RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
A "system-wide" implementation is one that is available to all
applications in the form of a library package. It may be a standard
package in the Java runtime environment (JRE) being used or it may be
additionally installed and accessible to any application via the
CLASSPATH.
A "custom" implementation of the GSS-API, on the other hand, is one
that would, in most cases, be bundled with the application during
distribution. It is expected that such an implementation would be
meant to provide for some particular need of the application, such as
support for some specific mechanism.
The design of this API also aims to provide a flexible framework to
add and manage GSS-API mechanisms. GSS-API leverages the Java
Cryptography Architecture (JCA) provider model to support the
plugability of mechanisms. Mechanisms can be added on a "system-
wide" basis, where all users of the framework will have them
available. The specification also allows for the addition of
mechanisms per-instance of the GSS-API.
Lastly, this specification presents an API that will naturally fit
within the operation environment of the Java platform. Readers are
assumed to be familiar with both the GSS-API and the Java platform.
2. GSS-API Operational Paradigm
The Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface
Version 2 [GSSAPIv2-UPDATE] defines a generic security API to calling
applications. It allows a communicating application to authenticate
the user associated with another application, to delegate rights to
another application, and to apply security services such as
confidentiality and integrity on a per-message basis.
There are four stages to using GSS-API:
1) The application acquires a set of credentials with which it may
prove its identity to other processes. The application's
credentials vouch for its global identity, which may or may not
be related to any local username under which it may be running.
2) A pair of communicating applications establish a joint security
context using their credentials. The security context
encapsulates shared state information, which is required in
order that per-message security services may be provided.
Examples of state information that might be shared between
applications as part of a security context are cryptographic
keys, and message sequence numbers. As part of the
establishment of a security context, the context initiator is
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
authenticated to the responder, and may require that the
responder is authenticated back to the initiator. The
initiator may optionally give the responder the right to
initiate further security contexts, acting as an agent or
delegate of the initiator. This transfer of rights is termed
"delegation", and is achieved by creating a set of credentials,
similar to those used by the initiating application, but which
may be used by the responder.
A GSSContext object is used to establish and maintain the
shared information that makes up the security context. Certain
GSSContext methods will generate a token, which applications
treat as cryptographically protected, opaque data. The caller
of such GSSContext method is responsible for transferring the
token to the peer application, encapsulated if necessary in an
application-to-application protocol. On receipt of such a
token, the peer application should pass it to a corresponding
GSSContext method which will decode the token and extract the
information, updating the security context state information
accordingly.
3) Per-message services are invoked on a GSSContext object to
apply either:
integrity and data origin authentication, or
confidentiality, integrity and data origin authentication
to application data, which are treated by GSS-API as arbitrary
octet-strings. An application transmitting a message that it
wishes to protect will call the appropriate GSSContext method
(getMIC or wrap) to apply protection, and send the resulting
token to the receiving application. The receiver will pass the
received token (and, in the case of data protected by getMIC,
the accompanying message-data) to the corresponding decoding
method of the GSSContext interface (verifyMIC or unwrap) to
remove the protection and validate the data.
4) At the completion of a communications session (which may extend
across several transport connections), each application uses a
GSSContext method to invalidate the security context and
release any system or cryptographic resources held. Multiple
contexts may also be used (either successively or
simultaneously) within a single communications association, at
the discretion of the applications.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20003. Additional Controls
This section discusses the optional services that a context initiator
may request of the GSS-API before the context establishment. Each of
these services is requested by calling the appropriate mutator method
in the GSSContext object before the first call to init is performed.
Only the context initiator can request context flags.
The optional services defined are:
Delegation
The (usually temporary) transfer of rights from initiator to
acceptor, enabling the acceptor to authenticate itself as an
agent of the initiator.
Mutual Authentication
In addition to the initiator authenticating its identity to the
context acceptor, the context acceptor should also authenticate
itself to the initiator.
Replay Detection
In addition to providing message integrity services, GSSContext
per-message operations of getMIC and wrap should include
message numbering information to enable verifyMIC and unwrap
to detect if a message has been duplicated.
Out-of-Sequence Detection
In addition to providing message integrity services, GSSContext
per-message operations (getMIC and wrap) should include
message sequencing information to enable verifyMIC and unwrap
to detect if a message has been received out of sequence.
Anonymous Authentication
The establishment of the security context should not reveal the
initiator's identity to the context acceptor.
Some mechanisms may not support all optional services, and some
mechanisms may only support some services in conjunction with others.
The GSSContext interface offers query methods to allow the
verification by the calling application of which services will be
available from the context when the establishment phase is complete.
In general, if the security mechanism is capable of providing a
requested service, it should do so even if additional services must
be enabled in order to provide the requested service. If the
mechanism is incapable of providing a requested service, it should
proceed without the service leaving the application to abort the
context establishment process if it considers the requested service
to be mandatory.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Some mechanisms may specify that support for some services is
optional, and that implementors of the mechanism need not provide it.
This is most commonly true of the confidentiality service, often
because of legal restrictions on the use of data-encryption, but may
apply to any of the services. Such mechanisms are required to send
at least one token from acceptor to initiator during context
establishment when the initiator indicates a desire to use such a
service, so that the initiating GSS-API can correctly indicate
whether the service is supported by the acceptor's GSS-API.
3.1. Delegation
The GSS-API allows delegation to be controlled by the initiating
application via the requestCredDeleg method before the first call to
init has been issued. Some mechanisms do not support delegation, and
for such mechanisms attempts by an application to enable delegation
are ignored.
The acceptor of a security context, for which the initiator enabled
delegation, can check if delegation was enabled by using the
getCredDelegState method of the GSSContext interface. In cases when
it is, the delegated credential object can be obtained by calling the
getDelegCred method. The obtained GSSCredential object may then be
used to initiate subsequent GSS-API security contexts as an agent or
delegate of the initiator. If the original initiator's identity is
"A" and the delegate's identity is "B", then, depending on the
underlying mechanism, the identity embodied by the delegated
credential may be either "A" or "B acting for A".
For many mechanisms that support delegation, a simple boolean does
not provide enough control. Examples of additional aspects of
delegation control that a mechanism might provide to an application
are duration of delegation, network addresses from which delegation
is valid, and constraints on the tasks that may be performed by a
delegate. Such controls are presently outside the scope of the GSS-
API. GSS-API implementations supporting mechanisms offering
additional controls should provide extension routines that allow
these controls to be exercised (perhaps by modifying the initiator's
GSS-API credential object prior to its use in establishing a
context). However, the simple delegation control provided by GSS-API
should always be able to over-ride other mechanism-specific
delegation controls. If the application instructs the GSSContext
object that delegation is not desired, then the implementation must
not permit delegation to occur. This is an exception to the general
rule that a mechanism may enable services even if they are not
requested - delegation may only be provided at the explicit request
of the application.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20003.2. Mutual Authentication
Usually, a context acceptor will require that a context initiator
authenticate itself so that the acceptor may make an access-control
decision prior to performing a service for the initiator. In some
cases, the initiator may also request that the acceptor authenticate
itself. GSS-API allows the initiating application to request this
mutual authentication service by calling the requestMutualAuth method
of the GSSContext interface with a "true" parameter before making the
first call to init. The initiating application is informed as to
whether or not the context acceptor has authenticated itself. Note
that some mechanisms may not support mutual authentication, and other
mechanisms may always perform mutual authentication, whether or not
the initiating application requests it. In particular, mutual
authentication may be required by some mechanisms in order to support
replay or out-of-sequence message detection, and for such mechanisms
a request for either of these services will automatically enable
mutual authentication.
3.3. Replay and Out-of-Sequence Detection
The GSS-API may provide detection of mis-ordered messages once a
security context has been established. Protection may be applied to
messages by either application, by calling either getMIC or wrap
methods of the GSSContext interface, and verified by the peer
application by calling verifyMIC or unwrap for the peer's GSSContext
object.
The getMIC method calculates a cryptographic checksum of an
application message, and returns that checksum in a token. The
application should pass both the token and the message to the peer
application, which presents them to the verifyMIC method of the
peer's GSSContext object.
The wrap method calculates a cryptographic checksum of an application
message, and places both the checksum and the message inside a single
token. The application should pass the token to the peer
application, which presents it to the unwrap method of the peer's
GSSContext object to extract the message and verify the checksum.
Either pair of routines may be capable of detecting out-of-sequence
message delivery, or duplication of messages. Details of such mis-
ordered messages are indicated through supplementary query methods of
the MessageProp object that is filled in by each of these routines.
A mechanism need not maintain a list of all tokens that have been
processed in order to support these status codes. A typical
mechanism might retain information about only the most recent "N"
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
tokens processed, allowing it to distinguish duplicates and missing
tokens within the most recent "N" messages; the receipt of a token
older than the most recent "N" would result in the isOldToken method
of the instance of MessageProp to return "true".
3.4. Anonymous Authentication
In certain situations, an application may wish to initiate the
authentication process to authenticate a peer, without revealing its
own identity. As an example, consider an application providing
access to a database containing medical information, and offering
unrestricted access to the service. A client of such a service might
wish to authenticate the service (in order to establish trust in any
information retrieved from it), but might not wish the service to be
able to obtain the client's identity (perhaps due to privacy concerns
about the specific inquiries, or perhaps simply to avoid being placed
on mailing-lists).
In normal use of the GSS-API, the initiator's identity is made
available to the acceptor as a result of the context establishment
process. However, context initiators may request that their identity
not be revealed to the context acceptor. Many mechanisms do not
support anonymous authentication, and for such mechanisms the request
will not be honored. An authentication token will still be
generated, but the application is always informed if a requested
service is unavailable, and has the option to abort context
establishment if anonymity is valued above the other security
services that would require a context to be established.
In addition to informing the application that a context is
established anonymously (via the isAnonymous method of the GSSContext
class), the getSrcName method of the acceptor's GSSContext object
will, for such contexts, return a reserved internal-form name,
defined by the implementation.
The toString method for a GSSName object representing an anonymous
entity will return a printable name. The returned value will be
syntactically distinguishable from any valid principal name supported
by the implementation. The associated name-type object identifier
will be an oid representing the value of NT_ANONYMOUS. This name-
type oid will be defined as a public, static Oid object of the
GSSName class. The printable form of an anonymous name should be
chosen such that it implies anonymity, since this name may appear in,
for example, audit logs. For example, the string "<anonymous>" might
be a good choice, if no valid printable names supported by the
implementation can begin with "<" and end with ">".
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
When using the equal method of the GSSName interface, and one of the
operands is a GSSName instance representing an anonymous entity, the
method must return "false".
3.5. Confidentiality
If a GSSContext supports the confidentiality service, wrap method may
be used to encrypt application messages. Messages are selectively
encrypted, under the control of the setPrivacy method of the
MessageProp object used in the wrap method.
3.6. Inter-process Context Transfer
GSS-API V2 provides functionality which allows a security context to
be transferred between processes on a single machine. These are
implemented using the export method of GSSContext and a byte array
constructor of the same class. The most common use for such a
feature is a client-server design where the server is implemented as
a single process that accepts incoming security contexts, which then
launches child processes to deal with the data on these contexts. In
such a design, the child processes must have access to the security
context object created within the parent so that they can use per-
message protection services and delete the security context when the
communication session ends.
Since the security context data structure is expected to contain
sequencing information, it is impractical in general to share a
context between processes. Thus GSSContext interface provides an
export method that the process, which currently owns the context, can
call to declare that it has no intention to use the context
subsequently, and to create an inter-process token containing
information needed by the adopting process to successfully re-create
the context. After successful completion of export, the original
security context is made inaccessible to the calling process by GSS-
API and any further usage of this object will result in failures.
The originating process transfers the inter-process token to the
adopting process, which creates a new GSSContext object using the
byte array constructor. The properties of the context are equivalent
to that of the original context.
The inter-process token may contain sensitive data from the original
security context (including cryptographic keys). Applications using
inter-process tokens to transfer security contexts must take
appropriate steps to protect these tokens in transit.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Implementations are not required to support the inter-process
transfer of security contexts. Calling the isTransferable method of
the GSSContext interface will indicate if the context object is
transferable.
3.7. The Use of Incomplete Contexts
Some mechanisms may allow the per-message services to be used before
the context establishment process is complete. For example, a
mechanism may include sufficient information in its initial context-
level tokens for the context acceptor to immediately decode messages
protected with wrap or getMIC. For such a mechanism, the initiating
application need not wait until subsequent context-level tokens have
been sent and received before invoking the per-message protection
services.
An application can invoke the isProtReady method of the GSSContext
class to determine if the per-message services are available in
advance of complete context establishment. Applications wishing to
use per-message protection services on partially-established contexts
should query this method before attempting to invoke wrap or getMIC.
4. Calling Conventions
Java provides the implementors with not just a syntax for the
language, but also an operational environment. For example, memory
is automatically managed and does not require application
intervention. These language features have allowed for a simpler API
and have led to the elimination of certain GSS-API functions.
Moreover, the JCA defines a provider model which allows for
implementation independent access to security services. Using this
model, applications can seamlessly switch between different
implementations and dynamically add new services. The GSS-API
specification leverages these concepts by the usage of providers for
the mechanism implementations.
4.1. Package Name
The classes and interfaces defined in this document reside in the
package called "org.ietf.jgss". Applications that wish to make use
of this API should import this package name as shown in section 7.
4.2. Provider Framework
The Java security API's use a provider architecture that allows
applications to be implementation independent and security API
implementations to be modular and extensible. The
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
java.security.Provider class is an abstract class that a vendor
extends. This class maps various properties that represent different
security services that are available to the names of the actual
vendor classes that implement those services. When requesting a
service, an application simply specifies the desired provider and the
API delegates the request to service classes available from that
provider.
Using the Java security provider model insulates applications from
implementation details of the services they wish to use.
Applications can switch between providers easily and new providers
can be added as needed, even at runtime.
The GSS-API may use providers to find components for specific
underlying security mechanisms. For instance, a particular provider
might contain components that will allow the GSS-API to support the
Kerberos v5 mechanism and another might contain components to support
the SPKM mechanism. By delegating mechanism specific functionality
to the components obtained from providers the GSS-API can be extended
to support an arbitrary list of mechanism.
How the GSS-API locates and queries these providers is beyond the
scope of this document and is being deferred to a Service Provider
Interface (SPI) specification. The availability of such a SPI
specification is not mandatory for the adoption of this API
specification nor is it mandatory to use providers in the
implementation of a GSS-API framework. However, by using the provider
framework together with an SPI specification one can create an
extensible and implementation independent GSS-API framework.
4.3. Integer types
All numeric values are declared as "int" primitive Java type. The
Java specification guarantees that this will be a 32 bit two's
complement signed number.
Throughout this API, the "boolean" primitive Java type is used
wherever a boolean value is required or returned.
4.4. Opaque Data types
Java byte arrays are used to represent opaque data types which are
consumed and produced by the GSS-API in the forms of tokens. Java
arrays contain a length field which enables the users to easily
determine their size. The language has automatic garbage collection
which alleviates the need by developers to release memory and
simplifies buffer ownership issues.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20004.5. Strings
The String object will be used to represent all textual data. The
Java String object, transparently treats all characters as two-byte
Unicode characters which allows support for many locals. All
routines returning or accepting textual data will use the String
object.
4.6. Object Identifiers
An Oid object will be used to represent Universal Object Identifiers
(Oids). Oids are ISO-defined, hierarchically globally-interpretable
identifiers used within the GSS-API framework to identify security
mechanisms and name formats. The Oid object can be created from a
string representation of its dot notation (e.g. "1.3.6.1.5.6.2") as
well as from its ASN.1 DER encoding. Methods are also provided to
test equality and provide the DER representation for the object.
An important feature of the Oid class is that its instances are
immutable - i.e. there are no methods defined that allow one to
change the contents of an Oid. This property allows one to treat
these objects as "statics" without the need to perform copies.
Certain routines allow the usage of a default oid. A "null" value
can be used in those cases.
4.7. Object Identifier Sets
The Java bindings represents object identifiers sets as arrays of Oid
objects. All Java arrays contain a length field which allows for
easy manipulation and reference.
In order to support the full functionality of RFC 2743, the Oid class
includes a method which checks for existence of an Oid object within
a specified array. This is equivalent in functionality to
gss_test_oid_set_member. The use of Java arrays and Java's automatic
garbage collection has eliminated the need for the following
routines: gss_create_empty_oid_set, gss_release_oid_set, and
gss_add_oid_set_member. Java GSS-API implementations will not
contain them. Java's automatic garbage collection and the immutable
property of the Oid object eliminates the complicated memory
management issues of the C counterpart.
When ever a default value for an Object Identifier Set is required, a
"null" value can be used. Please consult the detailed method
description for details.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20004.8. Credentials
GSS-API credentials are represented by the GSSCredential interface.
The interface contains several constructs to allow for the creation
of most common credential objects for the initiator and the acceptor.
Comparisons are performed using the interface's "equals" method. The
following general description of GSS-API credentials is included from
the C-bindings specification:
GSS-API credentials can contain mechanism-specific principal
authentication data for multiple mechanisms. A GSS-API credential is
composed of a set of credential-elements, each of which is applicable
to a single mechanism. A credential may contain at most one
credential-element for each supported mechanism. A credential-
element identifies the data needed by a single mechanism to
authenticate a single principal, and conceptually contains two
credential-references that describe the actual mechanism-specific
authentication data, one to be used by GSS-API for initiating
contexts, and one to be used for accepting contexts. For mechanisms
that do not distinguish between acceptor and initiator credentials,
both references would point to the same underlying mechanism-specific
authentication data.
Credentials describe a set of mechanism-specific principals, and give
their holder the ability to act as any of those principals. All
principal identities asserted by a single GSS-API credential should
belong to the same entity, although enforcement of this property is
an implementation-specific matter. A single GSSCredential object
represents all the credential elements that have been acquired.
The creation's of an GSSContext object allows the value of "null" to
be specified as the GSSCredential input parameter. This will
indicate a desire by the application to act as a default principal.
While individual GSS-API implementations are free to determine such
default behavior as appropriate to the mechanism, the following
default behavior by these routines is recommended for portability:
For the initiator side of the context:
1) If there is only a single principal capable of initiating
security contexts for the chosen mechanism that the application
is authorized to act on behalf of, then that principal shall be
used, otherwise
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
2) If the platform maintains a concept of a default network-
identity for the chosen mechanism, and if the application is
authorized to act on behalf of that identity for the purpose of
initiating security contexts, then the principal corresponding
to that identity shall be used, otherwise
3) If the platform maintains a concept of a default local
identity, and provides a means to map local identities into
network-identities for the chosen mechanism, and if the
application is authorized to act on behalf of the network-
identity image of the default local identity for the purpose of
initiating security contexts using the chosen mechanism, then
the principal corresponding to that identity shall be used,
otherwise
4) A user-configurable default identity should be used.
and for the acceptor side of the context
1) If there is only a single authorized principal identity capable
of accepting security contexts for the chosen mechanism, then
that principal shall be used, otherwise
2) If the mechanism can determine the identity of the target
principal by examining the context-establishment token
processed during the accept method, and if the accepting
application is authorized to act as that principal for the
purpose of accepting security contexts using the chosen
mechanism, then that principal identity shall be used,
otherwise
3) If the mechanism supports context acceptance by any principal,
and if mutual authentication was not requested, any principal
that the application is authorized to accept security contexts
under using the chosen mechanism may be used, otherwise
4) A user-configurable default identity shall be used.
The purpose of the above rules is to allow security contexts to be
established by both initiator and acceptor using the default behavior
whenever possible. Applications requesting default behavior are
likely to be more portable across mechanisms and implementations than
ones that instantiate an GSSCredential object representing a specific
identity.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20004.9. Contexts
The GSSContext interface is used to represent one end of a GSS-API
security context, storing state information appropriate to that end
of the peer communication, including cryptographic state information.
The instantiation of the context object is done differently by the
initiator and the acceptor. After the context has been instantiated,
the initiator may choose to set various context options which will
determine the characteristics of the desired security context. When
all the application desired characteristics have been set, the
initiator will call the initSecContext method which will produce a
token for consumption by the peer's acceptSecContext method. It is
the responsibility of the application to deliver the authentication
token(s) between the peer applications for processing. Upon
completion of the context establishment phase, context attributes can
be retrieved, by both the initiator and acceptor, using the accessor
methods. These will reflect the actual attributes of the established
context. At this point the context can be used by the application to
apply cryptographic services to its data.
4.10. Authentication tokens
A token is a caller-opaque type that GSS-API uses to maintain
synchronization between each end of the GSS-API security context.
The token is a cryptographically protected octet-string, generated by
the underlying mechanism at one end of a GSS-API security context for
use by the peer mechanism at the other end. Encapsulation (if
required) within the application protocol and transfer of the token
are the responsibility of the peer applications.
Java GSS-API uses byte arrays to represent authentication tokens.
Overloaded methods exist which allow the caller to supply input and
output streams which will be used for the reading and writing of the
token data.
4.11. Interprocess tokens
Certain GSS-API routines are intended to transfer data between
processes in multi-process programs. These routines use a caller-
opaque octet-string, generated by the GSS-API in one process for use
by the GSS-API in another process. The calling application is
responsible for transferring such tokens between processes. Note
that, while GSS-API implementors are encouraged to avoid placing
sensitive information within interprocess tokens, or to
cryptographically protect them, many implementations will be unable
to avoid placing key material or other sensitive data within them.
It is the application's responsibility to ensure that interprocess
tokens are protected in transit, and transferred only to processes
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
that are trustworthy. An interprocess token is represented using a
byte array emitted from the export method of the GSSContext
interface. The receiver of the interprocess token would initialize
an GSSContext object with this token to create a new context. Once a
context has been exported, the GSSContext object is invalidated and
is no longer available.
4.12. Error ReportingRFC 2743 defined the usage of major and minor status values for
signaling of GSS-API errors. The major code, also called GSS status
code, is used to signal errors at the GSS-API level independent of
the underlying mechanism(s). The minor status value or Mechanism
status code, is a mechanism defined error value indicating a
mechanism specific error code.
Java GSS-API uses exceptions implemented by the GSSException class to
signal both minor and major error values. Both mechanism specific
errors and GSS-API level errors are signaled through instances of
this class. The usage of exceptions replaces the need for major and
minor codes to be used within the API calls. GSSException class also
contains methods to obtain textual representations for both the major
and minor values, which is equivalent to the functionality of
gss_display_status.
4.12.1. GSS status codes
GSS status codes indicate errors that are independent of the
underlying mechanism(s) used to provide the security service. The
errors that can be indicated via a GSS status code are generic API
routine errors (errors that are defined in the GSS-API
specification). These bindings take advantage of the Java exceptions
mechanism, thus eliminating the need for calling errors.
A GSS status code indicates a single fatal generic API error from the
routine that has thrown the GSSException. Using exceptions announces
that a fatal error has occurred during the execution of the method.
The GSS-API operational model also allows for the signaling of
supplementary status information from the per-message calls. These
need to be handled as return values since using exceptions is not
appropriate for informatory or warning-like information. The methods
that are capable of producing supplementary information are the two
per-message methods GSSContext.verifyMIC() and GSSContext.unwrap().
These methods fill the supplementary status codes in the MessageProp
object that was passed in.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
GSSException object, along with providing the functionality for
setting of the various error codes and translating them into textual
representation, also contains the definitions of all the numeric
error values. The following table lists the definitions of error
codes:
Table: GSS Status Codes
Name Value Meaning
BAD_MECH 1 An unsupported mechanism
was requested.
BAD_NAME 2 An invalid name was supplied.
BAD_NAMETYPE 3 A supplied name was of an
unsupported type.
BAD_BINDINGS 4 Incorrect channel bindings were
supplied.
BAD_STATUS 5 An invalid status code was
supplied.
BAD_MIC 6 A token had an invalid MIC.
NO_CRED 7 No credentials were supplied, or
the credentials were unavailable
or inaccessible.
NO_CONTEXT 8 Invalid context has been
supplied.
DEFECTIVE_TOKEN 9 A supplied token was invalid.
DEFECTIVE_CREDENTIAL 10 A supplied credential was
invalid.
CREDENTIALS_EXPIRED 11 The referenced credentials
have expired.
CONTEXT_EXPIRED 12 The context has expired.
FAILURE 13 Miscellaneous failure,
unspecified at the GSS-API level.
BAD_QOP 14 The quality-of-protection
requested could not be provided.
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UNAUTHORIZED 15 The operation is forbidden by
local security policy.
UNAVAILABLE 16 The operation or option is
unavailable.
DUPLICATE_ELEMENT 17 The requested credential
element already exists.
NAME_NOT_MN 18 The provided name was not a
mechanism name.
OLD_TOKEN 19 The token's validity period has
expired.
DUPLICATE_TOKEN 20 The token was a duplicate of an
earlier version.
The GSS major status code of FAILURE is used to indicate that the
underlying mechanism detected an error for which no specific GSS
status code is defined. The mechanism-specific status code can
provide more details about the error.
The different major status codes that can be contained in the
GSSException object thrown by the methods in this specification are
the same as the major status codes returned by the corresponding
calls in RFC 2743 [GSSAPIv2-UPDATE].
4.12.2. Mechanism-specific status codes
Mechanism-specific status codes are communicated in two ways, they
are part of any GSSException thrown from the mechanism specific layer
to signal a fatal error, or they are part of the MessageProp object
that the per-message calls use to signal non-fatal errors.
A default value of 0 in either the GSSException object or the
MessageProp object will be used to represent the absence of any
mechanism specific status code.
4.12.3. Supplementary status codes
Supplementary status codes are confined to the per-message methods of
the GSSContext interface. Because of the informative nature of these
errors it is not appropriate to use exceptions to signal them.
Instead, the per-message operations of the GSSContext interface
return these values in a MessageProp object.
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The MessageProp class defines query methods which return boolean
values indicating the following supplementary states:
Table: Supplementary Status Methods
Method Name Meaning when "true" is returned
isDuplicateToken The token was a duplicate of an
earlier token.
isOldToken The token's validity period has
expired.
isUnseqToken A later token has already been
processed.
isGapToken An expected per-message token was
not received.
"true" return value for any of the above methods indicates that the
token exhibited the specified property. The application must
determine the appropriate course of action for these supplementary
values. They are not treated as errors by the GSS-API.
4.13. Names
A name is used to identify a person or entity. GSS-API authenticates
the relationship between a name and the entity claiming the name.
Since different authentication mechanisms may employ different
namespaces for identifying their principals, GSS-API's naming support
is necessarily complex in multi-mechanism environments (or even in
some single-mechanism environments where the underlying mechanism
supports multiple namespaces).
Two distinct conceptual representations are defined for names:
1) A GSS-API form represented by implementations of the GSSName
interface: A single GSSName object may contain multiple names from
different namespaces, but all names should refer to the same
entity. An example of such an internal name would be the name
returned from a call to the getName method of the GSSCredential
interface, when applied to a credential containing credential
elements for multiple authentication mechanisms employing
different namespaces. This GSSName object will contain a distinct
name for the entity for each authentication mechanism.
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For GSS-API implementations supporting multiple namespaces,
GSSName implementations must contain sufficient information to
determine the namespace to which each primitive name belongs.
2) Mechanism-specific contiguous byte array and string forms:
Different GSSName initialization methods are provided to handle
both byte array and string formats and to accommodate various
calling applications and name types. These formats are capable of
containing only a single name (from a single namespace).
Contiguous string names are always accompanied by an object
identifier specifying the namespace to which the name belongs, and
their format is dependent on the authentication mechanism that
employs that name. The string name forms are assumed to be
printable, and may therefore be used by GSS-API applications for
communication with their users. The byte array name formats are
assumed to be in non-printable formats (e.g. the byte array
returned from the export method of the GSSName interface).
A GSSName object can be converted to a contiguous representation by
using the toString method. This will guarantee that the name will be
converted to a printable format. Different initialization methods in
the GSSName interface are defined allowing support for multiple
syntaxes for each supported namespace, and allowing users the freedom
to choose a preferred name representation. The toString method
should use an implementation-chosen printable syntax for each
supported name-type. To obtain the printable name type,
getStringNameType method can be used.
There is no guarantee that calling the toString method on the GSSName
interface will produce the same string form as the original imported
string name. Furthermore, it is possible that the name was not even
constructed from a string representation. The same applies to name-
space identifiers which may not necessarily survive unchanged after a
journey through the internal name-form. An example of this might be
a mechanism that authenticates X.500 names, but provides an
algorithmic mapping of Internet DNS names into X.500. That
mechanism's implementation of GSSName might, when presented with a
DNS name, generate an internal name that contained both the original
DNS name and the equivalent X.500 name. Alternatively, it might only
store the X.500 name. In the latter case, the toString method of
GSSName would most likely generate a printable X.500 name, rather
than the original DNS name.
The context acceptor can obtain a GSSName object representing the
entity performing the context initiation (through the usage of
getSrcName method). Since this name has been authenticated by a
single mechanism, it contains only a single name (even if the
internal name presented by the context initiator to the GSSContext
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
object had multiple components). Such names are termed internal
mechanism names, or "MN"s and the names emitted by GSSContext
interface in the getSrcName and getTargName are always of this type.
Since some applications may require MNs without wanting to incur the
overhead of an authentication operation, creation methods are
provided that take not only the name buffer and name type, but also
the mechanism oid for which this name should be created. When
dealing with an existing GSSName object, the canonicalize method may
be invoked to convert a general internal name into an MN.
GSSName objects can be compared using their equal method, which
returns "true" if the two names being compared refer to the same
entity. This is the preferred way to perform name comparisons
instead of using the printable names that a given GSS-API
implementation may support. Since GSS-API assumes that all primitive
names contained within a given internal name refer to the same
entity, equal can return "true" if the two names have at least one
primitive name in common. If the implementation embodies knowledge
of equivalence relationships between names taken from different
namespaces, this knowledge may also allow successful comparisons of
internal names containing no overlapping primitive elements.
When used in large access control lists, the overhead of creating an
GSSName object on each name and invoking the equal method on each
name from the ACL may be prohibitive. As an alternative way of
supporting this case, GSS-API defines a special form of the
contiguous byte array name which may be compared directly (byte by
byte). Contiguous names suitable for comparison are generated by the
export method. Exported names may be re-imported by using the byte
array constructor and specifying the NT_EXPORT_NAME as the name type
object identifier. The resulting GSSName name will also be a MN.
The GSSName interface defines public static Oid objects representing
the standard name types. Structurally, an exported name object
consists of a header containing an OID identifying the mechanism that
authenticated the name, and a trailer containing the name itself,
where the syntax of the trailer is defined by the individual
mechanism specification. Detailed description of the format is
specified in the language-independent GSS-API specification
[GSSAPIv2-UPDATE].
Note that the results obtained by using the equals method will in
general be different from those obtained by invoking canonicalize and
export, and then comparing the byte array output. The first series
of operation determines whether two (unauthenticated) names identify
the same principal; the second whether a particular mechanism would
authenticate them as the same principal. These two operations will
in general give the same results only for MNs.
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It is important to note that the above are guidelines as how GSSName
implementations should behave, and are not intended to be specific
requirements of how names objects must be implemented. The mechanism
designers are free to decide on the details of their implementations
of the GSSName interface as long as the behavior satisfies the above
guidelines.
4.14. Channel Bindings
GSS-API supports the use of user-specified tags to identify a given
context to the peer application. These tags are intended to be used
to identify the particular communications channel that carries the
context. Channel bindings are communicated to the GSS-API using the
ChannelBinding object. The application may use byte arrays to
specify the application data to be used in the channel binding as
well as using instances of the InetAddress. The InetAddress for the
initiator and/or acceptor can be used within an instance of a
ChannelBinding. ChannelBinding can be set for the GSSContext object
using the setChannelBinding method before the first call to init or
accept has been performed. Unless the setChannelBinding method has
been used to set the ChannelBinding for a GSSContext object, "null"
ChannelBinding will be assumed. InetAddress is currently the only
address type defined within the Java platform and as such, it is the
only one supported within the ChannelBinding class. Applications
that use other types of addresses can include them as part of the
application specific data.
Conceptually, the GSS-API concatenates the initiator and acceptor
address information, and the application supplied byte array to form
an octet string. The mechanism calculates a MIC over this octet
string and binds the MIC to the context establishment token emitted
by init method of the GSSContext interface. The same bindings are
set by the context acceptor for its GSSContext object and during
processing of the accept method a MIC is calculated in the same way.
The calculated MIC is compared with that found in the token, and if
the MICs differ, accept will throw a GSSException with the major
code set to BAD_BINDINGS, and the context will not be established.
Some mechanisms may include the actual channel binding data in the
token (rather than just a MIC); applications should therefore not use
confidential data as channel-binding components.
Individual mechanisms may impose additional constraints on addresses
that may appear in channel bindings. For example, a mechanism may
verify that the initiator address field of the channel binding
contains the correct network address of the host system. Portable
applications should therefore ensure that they either provide correct
information for the address fields, or omit setting of the addressing
information.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20004.15. Stream Objects
The context object provides overloaded methods which use input and
output streams as the means to convey authentication and per-message
GSS-API tokens. It is important to note that the streams are
expected to contain the usual GSS-API tokens which would otherwise be
handled through the usage of byte arrays. The tokens are expected to
have a definite start and an end. The callers are responsible for
ensuring that the supplied streams will not block, or expect to block
until a full token is processed by the GSS-API method. Only a single
GSS-API token will be processed per invocation of the stream based
method.
The usage of streams allows the callers to have control and
management of the supplied buffers. Because streams are non-
primitive objects, the callers can make the streams as complicated or
as simple as desired simply by using the streams defined in the
java.io package or creating their own through the use of inheritance.
This will allow for the application's greatest flexibility.
4.16. Optional Parameters
Whenever the application wishes to omit an optional parameter the
"null" value shall be used. The detailed method descriptions
indicate which parameters are optional. Methods overloading has also
been used as a technique to indicate default parameters.
5. Introduction to GSS-API Classes and Interfaces
This section presents a brief description of the classes and
interfaces that constitute the GSS-API. The implementations of these
are obtained from the CLASSPATH defined by the application. If Java
GSS becomes part of the standard Java API's then these classes will
be available by default on all systems as part of the JRE's system
classes.
This section also shows the corresponding RFC 2743 functionality
implemented by each of the classes. Detailed description of these
classes and their methods is presented in section 6.
5.1. GSSManager class
This abstract class serves as a factory to instantiate
implementations of the GSS-API interfaces and also provides methods
to make queries about underlying security mechanisms.
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A default implementation can be obtained using the static method
getInstance(). Applications that desire to provide their own
implementation of the GSSManager class can simply extend the abstract
class themselves.
This class contains equivalents of the following RFC 2743 routines:
gss_import_name Create an internal name from 6.1.9-
the supplied information. 6.1.12
gss_acquire_cred Acquire credential 6.1.13-
for use. 6.1.15
gss_import_sec_context Create a previously exported 6.1.18
context.
gss_indicate_mechs List the mechanisms 6.1.6
supported by this GSS-API
implementation.
gss_inquire_mechs_for_name List the mechanisms 6.1.8
supporting the
specified name type.
gss_inquire_names_for_mech List the name types 6.1.7
supported by the
specified mechanism.
5.2. GSSName interface
GSS-API names are represented in the Java bindings through the
GSSName interface. Different name formats and their definitions are
identified with universal Object Identifiers (oids). The format of
the names can be derived based on the unique oid of each name type.
The following GSS-API routines are provided by the GSSName interface:
RFC 2743 Routine Function Section(s)
gss_display_name Covert internal name 6.2.7
representation to text format.
gss_compare_name Compare two internal names. 6.2.3, 6.2.4
gss_release_name Release resources associated N/A
with the internal name.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
gss_canonicalize_name Convert an internal name to a 6.1.11,
mechanism name.
gss_export_name Convert a mechanism name to 6.2.6
export format.
gss_duplicate_name Create a copy of the internal N/A
name.
The gss_release_name call is not provided as Java does its own
garbage collection. The gss_duplicate_name call is also redundant;
the GSSName interface has no mutator methods that can change the
state of the object so it is safe for sharing.
5.3. GSSCredential interface
The GSSCredential interface is responsible for the encapsulation of
GSS-API credentials. Credentials identify a single entity and
provide the necessary cryptographic information to enable the
creation of a context on behalf of that entity. A single credential
may contain multiple mechanism specific credentials, each referred to
as a credential element. The GSSCredential interface provides the
functionality of the following GSS-API routines:
RFC 2743 Routine Function Section(s)
gss_add_cred Constructs credentials 6.3.12
incrementally.
gss_inquire_cred Obtain information about 6.3.4,6.3.5
credential.
gss_inquire_cred_by_mech Obtain per-mechanism 6.3.5-6.3.10
information about
a credential.
gss_release_cred Disposes of credentials 6.3.3
after use.
5.4. GSSContext interface
This interface encapsulates the functionality of context-level calls
required for security context establishment and management between
peers as well as the per-message services offered to applications. A
context is established between a pair of peers and allows the usage
of security services on a per-message basis on application data. It
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
is created over a single security mechanism. The GSSContext
interface provides the functionality of the following GSS-API
routines:
RFC 2743 Routine Function Section(s)
gss_init_sec_context Initiate the creation of a 6.4.3,
security context with a peer. 6.4.4
gss_accept_sec_context Accept a security context 6.4.5,
initiated by a peer. 6.4.6
gss_delete_sec_context Destroy a security context. 6.4.8
gss_context_time Obtain remaining context 6.4.37
time.
gss_inquire_context Obtain context 6.4.29 to
characteristics. 6.3.42
gss_wrap_size_limit Determine token-size limit 6.4.9
for gss_wrap.
gss_export_sec_context Transfer security context 6.4.18
to another process.
gss_get_mic Calculate a cryptographic 6.4.14,
Message Integrity Code (MIC) 6.4.15
for a message.
gss_verify_mic Verify integrity on a received 6.4.16,
message. 6.4.17
gss_wrap Attach a MIC to a message and 6.4.10,
optionally encrypt the message 6.4.11
content.
gss_unwrap Obtain a previously wrapped 6.4.12,
application message verifying 6.4.13
its integrity and optionally
decrypting it.
The functionality offered by the gss_process_context_token routine
has not been included in the Java bindings specification. The
corresponding functionality of gss_delete_sec_context has also been
modified to not return any peer tokens. This has been proposed in
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
accordance to the recommendations stated in RFC 2743. GSSContext
does offer the functionality of destroying the locally-stored context
information.
5.5. MessageProp class
This helper class is used in the per-message operations on the
context. An instance of this class is created by the application and
then passed into the per-message calls. In some cases, the
application conveys information to the GSS-API implementation through
this object and in other cases the GSS-API returns information to the
application by setting it in this object. See the description of the
per-message operations wrap, unwrap, getMIC, and verifyMIC in the
GSSContext interfaces for details.
5.6. GSSException class
Exceptions are used in the Java bindings to signal fatal errors to
the calling applications. This replaces the major and minor codes
used in the C-bindings specification as a method of signaling
failures. The GSSException class handles both minor and major codes,
as well as their translation into textual representation. All GSS-
API methods are declared as throwing this exception.
RFC 2743 Routine Function Section
gss_display_status Retrieve textual 6.8.5, 6.8.6,
representation of error 6.8.8, 6.8.9
codes.
5.7. Oid class
This utility class is used to represent Universal Object Identifiers
and their associated operations. GSS-API uses object identifiers to
distinguish between security mechanisms and name types. This class,
aside from being used whenever an object identifier is needed,
implements the following GSS-API functionality:
RFC 2743 Routine Function Section
gss_test_oid_set_member Determine if the specified oid 6.7.5
is part of a set of oids.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20005.8. ChannelBinding class
An instance of this class is used to specify channel binding
information to the GSSContext object before the start of a security
context establishment. The application may use a byte array to
specify application data to be used in the channel binding as well as
use instances of the InetAddress. InetAddress is currently the only
address type defined within the Java platform and as such, it is the
only one supported within the ChannelBinding class. Applications that
use other types of addresses can include them as part of the
application data.
6. Detailed GSS-API Class Description
This section lists a detailed description of all the public methods
that each of the GSS-API classes and interfaces must provide.
6.1. public abstract class GSSManager
The GSSManager class is an abstract class that serves as a factory
for three GSS interfaces: GSSName, GSSCredential, and GSSContext. It
also provides methods for applications to determine what mechanisms
are available from the GSS implementation and what nametypes these
mechanisms support. An instance of the default GSSManager subclass
may be obtained through the static method getInstance(), but
applications are free to instantiate other subclasses of GSSManager.
All but one method in this class are declared abstract. This means
that subclasses have to provide the complete implementation for those
methods. The only exception to this is the static method
getInstance() which will have platform specific code to return an
instance of the default subclass.
Platform providers of GSS are required not to add any constructors to
this class, private, public, or protected. This will ensure that all
subclasses invoke only the default constructor provided to the base
class by the compiler.
A subclass extending the GSSManager abstract class may be implemented
as a modular provider based layer that utilizes some well known
service provider specification. The GSSManager API provides the
application with methods to set provider preferences on such an
implementation. These methods also allow the implementation to throw
a well-defined exception in case provider based configuration is not
supported. Applications that expect to be portable should be aware of
this and recover cleanly by catching the exception.
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It is envisioned that there will be three most common ways in which
providers will be used:
1) The application does not care about what provider is used (the
default case).
2) The application wants a particular provider to be used
preferentially, either for a particular mechanism or all the
time, irrespective of mechanism.
3) The application wants to use the locally configured providers
as far as possible but if support is missing for one or more
mechanisms then it wants to fall back on its own provider.
The GSSManager class has two methods that enable these modes of
usage: addProviderAtFront() and addProviderAtEnd(). These methods
have the effect of creating an ordered list of <provider, oid> pairs
where each pair indicates a preference of provider for a given oid.
The use of these methods does not require any knowledge of whatever
service provider specification the GSSManager subclass follows. It is
hoped that these methods will serve the needs of most applications.
Additional methods may be added to an extended GSSManager that could
be part of a service provider specification that is standardized
later.
6.1.1. Example Code
GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
// What mechs are available to us?
Oid[] supportedMechs = mgr.getMechs();
// Set a preference for the provider to be used when support is needed
// for the mechanisms "1.2.840.113554.1.2.2" and "1.3.6.1.5.5.1.1".
Oid krb = new Oid("1.2.840.113554.1.2.2");
Oid spkm1 = new Oid("1.3.6.1.5.5.1.1");
Provider p = (Provider) (new com.foo.security.Provider());
mgr.addProviderAtFront(p, krb);
mgr.addProviderAtFront(p, spkm1);
// What name types does this spkm implementation support?
Oid[] nameTypes = mgr.getNamesForMech(spkm1);
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.1.2. getInstance
public static GSSManager getInstance()
Returns the default GSSManager implementation.
6.1.3. getMechs
public abstract Oid[] getMechs()
Returns an array of Oid objects indicating mechanisms available to
GSS-API callers. A "null" value is returned when no mechanism are
available (an example of this would be when mechanism are dynamically
configured, and currently no mechanisms are installed).
6.1.4. getNamesForMech
public abstract Oid[] getNamesForMech(Oid mech)
throws GSSException
Returns name type Oid's supported by the specified mechanism.
Parameters:
mech The Oid object for the mechanism to query.
6.1.5. getMechsForName
public abstract Oid[] getMechsForName(Oid nameType)
Returns an array of Oid objects corresponding to the mechanisms that
support the specific name type. "null" is returned when no
mechanisms are found to support the specified name type.
Parameters:
nameType The Oid object for the name type.
6.1.6. createName
public abstract GSSName createName(String nameStr, Oid nameType)
throws GSSException
Factory method to convert a contiguous string name from the specified
namespace to a GSSName object. In general, the GSSName object
created will not be an MN; two examples that are exceptions to this
are when the namespace type parameter indicates NT_EXPORT_NAME or
when the GSS-API implementation is not multi-mechanism.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
nameStr The string representing a printable form of the name
to create.
nameType The Oid specifying the namespace of the printable name
supplied. Note that nameType serves to describe and
qualify the interpretation of the input nameStr, it
does not necessarily imply a type for the output
GSSName implementation. "null" value can be used to
specify that a mechanism specific default printable
syntax should be assumed by each mechanism that
examines nameStr.
6.1.7. createName
public abstract GSSName createName(byte name[], Oid nameType)
throws GSSException
Factory method to convert a contiguous byte array containing a name
from the specified namespace to a GSSName object. In general, the
GSSName object created will not be an MN; two examples that are
exceptions to this are when the namespace type parameter indicates
NT_EXPORT_NAME or when the GSS-API implementation is not multi-
mechanism.
Parameters:
name The byte array containing the name to create.
nameType The Oid specifying the namespace of the name supplied
in the byte array. Note that nameType serves to
describe and qualify the interpretation of the input
name byte array, it does not necessarily imply a type
for the output GSSName implementation. "null" value
can be used to specify that a mechanism specific
default syntax should be assumed by each mechanism
that examines the byte array.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.1.8. createName
public abstract GSSName createName(String nameStr, Oid nameType,
Oid mech) throws GSSException
Factory method to convert a contiguous string name from the specified
namespace to an GSSName object that is a mechanism name (MN). In
other words, this method is a utility that does the equivalent of two
steps: the createName described in 6.1.7 and then also the
GSSName.canonicalize() described in 6.2.5.
Parameters:
nameStr The string representing a printable form of the name
to create.
nameType The Oid specifying the namespace of the printable name
supplied. Note that nameType serves to describe and
qualify the interpretation of the input nameStr, it
does not necessarily imply a type for the output
GSSName implementation. "null" value can be used to
specify that a mechanism specific default printable
syntax should be assumed when the mechanism examines
nameStr.
mech Oid specifying the mechanism for which this name
should be created.
6.1.9. createName
public abstract createName(byte name[], Oid nameType, Oid mech)
throws GSSException
Factory method to convert a contiguous byte array containing a name
from the specified namespace to a GSSName object that is an MN. In
other words, this method is a utility that does the equivalent of two
steps: the createName described in 6.1.8 and then also the
GSSName.canonicalize() described in 6.2.5.
Parameters:
name The byte array representing the name to create.
nameType The Oid specifying the namespace of the name supplied
in the byte array. Note that nameType serves to
describe and qualify the interpretation of the input
name byte array, it does not necessarily imply a type
for the output GSSName implementation. "null" value
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
can be used to specify that a mechanism specific
default syntax should be assumed by each mechanism
that examines the byte array.
mech Oid specifying the mechanism for which this name
should be created.
6.1.10. createCredential
public abstract GSSCredential createCredential (int usage)
throws GSSException
Factory method for acquiring default credentials. This will cause
the GSS-API to use system specific defaults for the set of
mechanisms, name, and a DEFAULT lifetime.
Parameters:
usage The intended usage for this credential object. The
value of this parameter must be one of:
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_AND_INITIATE,
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY, GSSCredential.INITIATE_ONLY
6.1.11. createCredential
public abstract GSSCredential createCredential (GSSName aName,
int lifetime, Oid mech, int usage)
throws GSSException
Factory method for acquiring a single mechanism credential.
Parameters:
aName Name of the principal for whom this credential is to
be acquired. Use "null" to specify the default
principal.
lifetime The number of seconds that credentials should remain
valid. Use GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME to
request that the credentials have the maximum
permitted lifetime. Use
GSSCredential.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request default
credential lifetime.
mech The oid of the desired mechanism. Use "(Oid) null" to
request the default mechanism(s).
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
usage The intended usage for this credential object. The
value of this parameter must be one of:
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_AND_INITIATE,
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY, GSSCredential.INITIATE_ONLY
6.1.12. createCredential
public abstract GSSCredential createCredential(GSSName aName,
int lifetime, Oid mechs[], int usage)
throws GSSException
Factory method for acquiring credentials over a set of mechanisms.
Acquires credentials for each of the mechanisms specified in the
array called mechs. To determine the list of mechanisms' for which
the acquisition of credentials succeeded, the caller should use the
GSSCredential.getMechs() method.
Parameters:
aName Name of the principal for whom this credential is to
be acquired. Use "null" to specify the default
principal.
lifetime The number of seconds that credentials should remain
valid. Use GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME to
request that the credentials have the maximum
permitted lifetime. Use
GSSCredential.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request default
credential lifetime.
mechs The array of mechanisms over which the credential is
to be acquired. Use "(Oid[]) null" for requesting a
system specific default set of mechanisms.
usage The intended usage for this credential object. The
value of this parameter must be one of:
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_AND_INITIATE,
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY, GSSCredential.INITIATE_ONLY
6.1.13. createContext
public abstract GSSContext createContext(GSSName peer, Oid mech,
GSSCredential myCred, int lifetime)
throws GSSException
Factory method for creating a context on the initiator's side.
Context flags may be modified through the mutator methods prior to
calling GSSContext.initSecContext().
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
peer Name of the target peer.
mech Oid of the desired mechanism. Use "(Oid) null" to
request default mechanism.
myCred Credentials of the initiator. Use "null" to act as a
default initiator principal.
lifetime The request lifetime, in seconds, for the context.
Use GSSContext.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME and
GSSContext.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request indefinite or
default context lifetime.
6.1.14. createContext
public abstract GSSContext createContext(GSSCredential myCred)
throws GSSException
Factory method for creating a context on the acceptor' side. The
context's properties will be determined from the input token supplied
to the accept method.
Parameters:
myCred Credentials for the acceptor. Use "null" to act as a
default acceptor principal.
6.1.15. createContext
public abstract GSSContext createContext(byte [] interProcessToken)
throws GSSException
Factory method for creating a previously exported context. The
context properties will be determined from the input token and can't
be modified through the set methods.
Parameters:
interProcessToken
The token previously emitted from the export method.
6.1.16. addProviderAtFront
public abstract void addProviderAtFront(Provider p, Oid mech)
throws GSSException
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
This method is used to indicate to the GSSManager that the
application would like a particular provider to be used ahead of all
others when support is desired for the given mechanism. When a value
of null is used instead of an Oid for the mechanism, the GSSManager
must use the indicated provider ahead of all others no matter what
the mechanism is. Only when the indicated provider does not support
the needed mechanism should the GSSManager move on to a different
provider.
Calling this method repeatedly preserves the older settings but
lowers them in preference thus forming an ordered list of provider
and Oid pairs that grows at the top.
Calling addProviderAtFront with a null Oid will remove all previous
preferences that were set for this provider in the GSSManager
instance. Calling addProviderAtFront with a non-null Oid will remove
any previous preference that was set using this mechanism and this
provider together.
If the GSSManager implementation does not support an SPI with a
pluggable provider architecture it should throw a GSSException with
the status code GSSException.UNAVAILABLE to indicate that the
operation is unavailable.
Parameters:
p The provider instance that should be used whenever
support is needed for mech.
mech The mechanism for which the provider is being set
6.1.16.1. Example Code
Suppose an application desired that the provider A always be checked
first when any mechanism is needed, it would call:
GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
// mgr may at this point have its own pre-configured list
// of provider preferences. The following will prepend to
// any such list:
mgr.addProviderAtFront(A, null);
Now if it also desired that the mechanism of Oid m1 always be
obtained from the provider B before the previously set A was checked,
it would call:
mgr.addProviderAtFront(B, m1);
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
The GSSManager would then first check with B if m1 was needed. In
case B did not provide support for m1, the GSSManager would continue
on to check with A. If any mechanism m2 is needed where m2 is
different from m1 then the GSSManager would skip B and check with A
directly.
Suppose at a later time the following call is made to the same
GSSManager instance:
mgr.addProviderAtFront(B, null)
then the previous setting with the pair (B, m1) is subsumed by this
and should be removed. Effectively the list of preferences now
becomes {(B, null), (A, null),
... //followed by the pre-configured list.
Please note, however, that the following call:
mgr.addProviderAtFront(A, m3)
does not subsume the previous setting of (A, null) and the list will
effectively become {(A, m3), (B, null), (A, null), ...}
6.1.17. addProviderAtEnd
public abstract addProviderAtEnd(Provider p, Oid mech)
throws GSSException
This method is used to indicate to the GSSManager that the
application would like a particular provider to be used if no other
provider can be found that supports the given mechanism. When a value
of null is used instead of an Oid for the mechanism, the GSSManager
must use the indicated provider for any mechanism.
Calling this method repeatedly preserves the older settings but
raises them above newer ones in preference thus forming an ordered
list of providers and Oid pairs that grows at the bottom. Thus the
older provider settings will be utilized first before this one is.
If there are any previously existing preferences that conflict with
the preference being set here, then the GSSManager should ignore this
request.
If the GSSManager implementation does not support an SPI with a
pluggable provider architecture it should throw a GSSException with
the status code GSSException.UNAVAILABLE to indicate that the
operation is unavailable.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
p The provider instance that should be used whenever
support is needed for mech.
mech The mechanism for which the provider is being set
6.1.17.1. Example Code
Suppose an application desired that when a mechanism of Oid m1 is
needed the system default providers always be checked first, and only
when they do not support m1 should a provider A be checked. It would
then make the call:
GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
mgr.addProviderAtEnd(A, m1);
Now, if it also desired that for all mechanisms the provider B be
checked after all configured providers have been checked, it would
then call:
mgr.addProviderAtEnd(B, null);
Effectively the list of preferences now becomes {..., (A, m1), (B,
null)}.
Suppose at a later time the following call is made to the same
GSSManager instance:
mgr.addProviderAtEnd(B, m2)
then the previous setting with the pair (B, null) subsumes this and
therefore this request should be ignored. The same would happen if a
request is made for the already existing pairs of (A, m1) or (B,
null).
Please note, however, that the following call:
mgr.addProviderAtEnd(A, null)
is not subsumed by the previous setting of (A, m1) and the list will
effectively become {..., (A, m1), (B, null), (A, null)}
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.2. public interface GSSName
This interface encapsulates a single GSS-API principal entity.
Different name formats and their definitions are identified with
universal Object Identifiers (Oids). The format of the names can be
derived based on the unique oid of its namespace type.
6.2.1. Example Code
Included below are code examples utilizing the GSSName interface.
The code below creates a GSSName, converts it to a mechanism name
(MN), performs a comparison, obtains a printable representation of
the name, exports it and then re-imports to obtain a new GSSName.
GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
// create a host based service name
GSSName name = mgr.createName("service@host",
GSSName.NT_HOSTBASED_SERVICE);
Oid krb5 = new Oid("1.2.840.113554.1.2.2");
GSSName mechName = name.canonicalize(krb5);
// the above two steps are equivalent to the following
GSSName mechName = mgr.createName("service@host",
GSSName.NT_HOSTBASED_SERVICE, krb5);
// perform name comparison
if (name.equals(mechName))
print("Names are equals.");
// obtain textual representation of name and its printable
// name type
print(mechName.toString() +
mechName.getStringNameType().toString());
// export and re-import the name
byte [] exportName = mechName.export();
// create a new name object from the exported buffer
GSSName newName = mgr.createName(exportName,
GSSName.NT_EXPORT_NAME);
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.2.2. Static Constants
public static final Oid NT_HOSTBASED_SERVICE
Oid indicating a host-based service name form. It is used to
represent services associated with host computers. This name form is
constructed using two elements, "service" and "hostname", as follows:
service@hostname
Values for the "service" element are registered with the IANA. It
represents the following value: { 1(iso), 3(org), 6(dod),
1(internet), 5(security), 6(nametypes), 2(gss-host-based-services) }
public static final Oid NT_USER_NAME
Name type to indicate a named user on a local system. It represents
the following value: { iso(1) member-body(2) United States(840)
mit(113554) infosys(1) gssapi(2) generic(1) user_name(1) }
public static final Oid NT_MACHINE_UID_NAME
Name type to indicate a numeric user identifier corresponding to a
user on a local system. (e.g. Uid). It represents the following
value: { iso(1) member-body(2) United States(840) mit(113554)
infosys(1) gssapi(2) generic(1) machine_uid_name(2) }
public static final Oid NT_STRING_UID_NAME
Name type to indicate a string of digits representing the numeric
user identifier of a user on a local system. It represents the
following value: { iso(1) member-body(2) United States(840)
mit(113554) infosys(1) gssapi(2) generic(1) string_uid_name(3) }
public static final Oid NT_ANONYMOUS
Name type for representing an anonymous entity. It represents the
following value: { 1(iso), 3(org), 6(dod), 1(internet), 5(security),
6(nametypes), 3(gss-anonymous-name) }
public static final Oid NT_EXPORT_NAME
Name type used to indicate an exported name produced by the export
method. It represents the following value: { 1(iso), 3(org), 6(dod),
1(internet), 5(security), 6(nametypes), 4(gss-api-exported-name) }
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.2.3. equals
public boolean equals(GSSName another) throws GSSException
Compares two GSSName objects to determine whether they refer to the
same entity. This method may throw a GSSException when the names
cannot be compared. If either of the names represents an anonymous
entity, the method will return "false".
Parameters:
another GSSName object to compare with.
6.2.4. equals
public boolean equals(Object another)
A variation of the equals method described in 6.2.3 that is provided
to override the Object.equals() method that the implementing class
will inherit. The behavior is exactly the same as that in 6.2.3
except that no GSSException is thrown; instead, false will be
returned in the situation where an error occurs. (Note that the Java
language specification requires that two objects that are equal
according to the equals(Object) method must return the same integer
result when the hashCode() method is called on them.)
Parameters:
another GSSName object to compare with.
6.2.5. canonicalize
public GSSName canonicalize(Oid mech) throws GSSException
Creates a mechanism name (MN) from an arbitrary internal name. This
is equivalent to using the factory methods described in 6.1.9 or
6.1.10 that take the mechanism name as one of their parameters.
Parameters:
mech The oid for the mechanism for which the canonical form
of the name is requested.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.2.6. export
public byte[] export() throws GSSException
Returns a canonical contiguous byte representation of a mechanism
name (MN), suitable for direct, byte by byte comparison by
authorization functions. If the name is not an MN, implementations
may throw a GSSException with the NAME_NOT_MN status code. If an
implementation chooses not to throw an exception, it should use some
system specific default mechanism to canonicalize the name and then
export it. The format of the header of the output buffer is
specified in RFC 2743.
6.2.7. toString
public String toString()
Returns a textual representation of the GSSName object. To retrieve
the printed name format, which determines the syntax of the returned
string, the getStringNameType method can be used.
6.2.8. getStringNameType
public Oid getStringNameType() throws GSSException
Returns the oid representing the type of name returned through the
toString method. Using this oid, the syntax of the printable name
can be determined.
6.2.9. isAnonymous
public boolean isAnonymous()
Tests if this name object represents an anonymous entity. Returns
"true" if this is an anonymous name.
6.2.10. isMN
public boolean isMN()
Tests if this name object contains only one mechanism element and is
thus a mechanism name as defined by RFC 2743.
6.3. public interface GSSCredential implements Cloneable
This interface encapsulates the GSS-API credentials for an entity. A
credential contains all the necessary cryptographic information to
enable the creation of a context on behalf of the entity that it
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
represents. It may contain multiple, distinct, mechanism specific
credential elements, each containing information for a specific
security mechanism, but all referring to the same entity.
A credential may be used to perform context initiation, acceptance,
or both.
GSS-API implementations must impose a local access-control policy on
callers to prevent unauthorized callers from acquiring credentials to
which they are not entitled. GSS-API credential creation is not
intended to provide a "login to the network" function, as such a
function would involve the creation of new credentials rather than
merely acquiring a handle to existing credentials. Such functions,
if required, should be defined in implementation-specific extensions
to the API.
If credential acquisition is time-consuming for a mechanism, the
mechanism may choose to delay the actual acquisition until the
credential is required (e.g. by GSSContext). Such mechanism-
specific implementation decisions should be invisible to the calling
application; thus the query methods immediately following the
creation of a credential object must return valid credential data,
and may therefore incur the overhead of a deferred credential
acquisition.
Applications will create a credential object passing the desired
parameters. The application can then use the query methods to obtain
specific information about the instantiated credential object
(equivalent to the gss_inquire routines). When the credential is no
longer needed, the application should call the dispose (equivalent to
gss_release_cred) method to release any resources held by the
credential object and to destroy any cryptographically sensitive
information.
Classes implementing this interface also implement the Cloneable
interface. This indicates the the class will support the clone()
method that will allow the creation of duplicate credentials. This
is useful when called just before the add() call to retain a copy of
the original credential.
6.3.1. Example Code
This example code demonstrates the creation of a GSSCredential
implementation for a specific entity, querying of its fields, and its
release when it is no longer needed.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
// start by creating a name object for the entity
GSSName name = mgr.createName("userName", GSSName.NT_USER_NAME);
// now acquire credentials for the entity
GSSCredential cred = mgr.createCredential(name,
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY);
// display credential information - name, remaining lifetime,
// and the mechanisms it has been acquired over
print(cred.getName().toString());
print(cred.getRemainingLifetime());
Oid [] mechs = cred.getMechs();
if (mechs != null) {
for (int i = 0; i < mechs.length; i++)
print(mechs[i].toString());
}
// release system resources held by the credential
cred.dispose();
6.3.2. Static Constants
public static final int INITIATE_AND_ACCEPT
Credential usage flag requesting that it be able to be used for both
context initiation and acceptance.
public static final int INITIATE_ONLY
Credential usage flag requesting that it be able to be used for
context initiation only.
public static final int ACCEPT_ONLY
Credential usage flag requesting that it be able to be used for
context acceptance only.
public static final int DEFAULT_LIFETIME
A lifetime constant representing the default credential lifetime.
This value must be set to 0.
public static final int INDEFINITE_LIFETIME
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
A lifetime constant representing indefinite credential lifetime.
This value must be set to the maximum integer value in Java -
Integer.MAX_VALUE.
6.3.3. dispose
public void dispose() throws GSSException
Releases any sensitive information that the GSSCredential object may
be containing. Applications should call this method as soon as the
credential is no longer needed to minimize the time any sensitive
information is maintained.
6.3.4. getName
public GSSName getName() throws GSSException
Retrieves the name of the entity that the credential asserts.
6.3.5. getName
public GSSName getName(Oid mechOID) throws GSSException
Retrieves a mechanism name of the entity that the credential asserts.
Equivalent to calling canonicalize() on the name returned by 7.3.3.
Parameters:
mechOID The mechanism for which information should be
returned.
6.3.6. getRemainingLifetime
public int getRemainingLifetime() throws GSSException
Returns the remaining lifetime in seconds for a credential. The
remaining lifetime is the minimum lifetime for any of the underlying
credential mechanisms. A return value of
GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME indicates that the credential does
not expire. A return value of 0 indicates that the credential is
already expired.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.3.7. getRemainingInitLifetime
public int getRemainingInitLifetime(Oid mech) throws GSSException
Returns the remaining lifetime is seconds for the credential to
remain capable of initiating security contexts under the specified
mechanism. A return value of GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME
indicates that the credential does not expire for context initiation.
A return value of 0 indicates that the credential is already expired.
Parameters:
mechOID The mechanism for which information should be
returned.
6.3.8. getRemainingAcceptLifetime
public int getRemainingAcceptLifetime(Oid mech) throws GSSException
Returns the remaining lifetime is seconds for the credential to
remain capable of accepting security contexts under the specified
mechanism. A return value of GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME
indicates that the credential does not expire for context acceptance.
A return value of 0 indicates that the credential is already expired.
Parameters:
mechOID The mechanism for which information should be
returned.
6.3.9. getUsage
public int getUsage() throws GSSException
Returns the credential usage flag. The return value will be one of
GSSCredential.INITIATE_ONLY, GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY, or
GSSCredential.INITIATE_AND_ACCEPT.
6.3.10. getUsage
public int getUsage(Oid mechOID) throws GSSException
Returns the credential usage flag for the specified credential
mechanism. The return value will be one of
GSSCredential.INITIATE_ONLY, GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY, or
GSSCredential.INITIATE_AND_ACCEPT.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
mechOID The mechanism for which information should be
returned.
6.3.11. getMechs
public Oid[] getMechs() throws GSSException
Returns an array of mechanisms supported by this credential.
6.3.12. add
public void add(GSSName aName, int initLifetime, int acceptLifetime,
Oid mech, int usage) throws GSSException
Adds a mechanism specific credential-element to an existing
credential. This method allows the construction of credentials one
mechanism at a time.
This routine is envisioned to be used mainly by context acceptors
during the creation of acceptance credentials which are to be used
with a variety of clients using different security mechanisms.
This routine adds the new credential element "in-place". To add the
element in a new credential, first call clone() to obtain a copy of
this credential, then call its add() method.
Parameters:
aName Name of the principal for whom this credential is to
be acquired. Use "null" to specify the default
principal.
initLifetime
The number of seconds that credentials should remain
valid for initiating of security contexts. Use
GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME to request that the
credentials have the maximum permitted lifetime. Use
GSSCredential.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request default
credential lifetime.
acceptLifetime
The number of seconds that credentials should remain
valid for accepting of security contexts. Use
GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME to request that the
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
credentials have the maximum permitted lifetime. Use
GSSCredential.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request default
credential lifetime.
mech The mechanisms over which the credential is to be
acquired.
usage The intended usage for this credential object. The
value of this parameter must be one of:
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_AND_INITIATE,
GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY, GSSCredential.INITIATE_ONLY
6.3.13. equals
public boolean equals(Object another)
Tests if this GSSCredential refers to the same entity as the supplied
object. The two credentials must be acquired over the same
mechanisms and must refer to the same principal. Returns "true" if
the two GSSCredentials refer to the same entity; "false" otherwise.
(Note that the Java language specification requires that two objects
that are equal according to the equals(Object) method must return the
same integer result when the hashCode() method is called on them.)
Parameters:
another Another GSSCredential object for comparison.
6.4. public interface GSSContext
This interface encapsulates the GSS-API security context and provides
the security services (wrap, unwrap, getMIC, verifyMIC) that are
available over the context. Security contexts are established
between peers using locally acquired credentials. Multiple contexts
may exist simultaneously between a pair of peers, using the same or
different set of credentials. GSS-API functions in a manner
independent of the underlying transport protocol and depends on its
calling application to transport its tokens between peers.
Before the context establishment phase is initiated, the context
initiator may request specific characteristics desired of the
established context. These can be set using the set methods. After
the context is established, the caller can check the actual
characteristic and services offered by the context using the query
methods.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
The context establishment phase begins with the first call to the
init method by the context initiator. During this phase the
initSecContext and acceptSecContext methods will produce GSS-API
authentication tokens which the calling application needs to send to
its peer. If an error occurs at any point, an exception will get
thrown and the code will start executing in a catch block. If not,
the normal flow of code continues and the application can make a call
to the isEstablished() method. If this method returns false it
indicates that a token is needed from its peer in order to continue
the context establishment phase. A return value of true signals that
the local end of the context is established. This may still require
that a token be sent to the peer, if one is produced by GSS-API.
During the context establishment phase, the isProtReady() method may
be called to determine if the context can be used for the per-message
operations. This allows applications to use per-message operations
on contexts which aren't fully established.
After the context has been established or the isProtReady() method
returns "true", the query routines can be invoked to determine the
actual characteristics and services of the established context. The
application can also start using the per-message methods of wrap and
getMIC to obtain cryptographic operations on application supplied
data.
When the context is no longer needed, the application should call
dispose to release any system resources the context may be using.
6.4.1. Example Code
The example code presented below demonstrates the usage of the
GSSContext interface for the initiating peer. Different operations
on the GSSContext object are presented, including: object
instantiation, setting of desired flags, context establishment, query
of actual context flags, per-message operations on application data,
and finally context deletion.
GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
// start by creating the name for a service entity
GSSName targetName = mgr.createName("service@host",
GSSName.NT_HOSTBASED_SERVICE);
// create a context using default credentials for the above entity
// and the implementation specific default mechanism
GSSContext context = mgr.createContext(targetName,
null, /* default mechanism */
null, /* default credentials */
GSSContext.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME);
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
MessageProp mProp = new MessageProp(0, true);
byte []tok = context.wrap(appMsg, 0, appMsg.length, mProp);
if (mProp.getPrivacy())
print("Message protected with privacy.");
sendToken(tok);
// release the local-end of the context
context.dispose();
6.4.2. Static Constants
public static final int DEFAULT_LIFETIME
A lifetime constant representing the default context lifetime. This
value must be set to 0.
public static final int INDEFINITE_LIFETIME
A lifetime constant representing indefinite context lifetime. This
value must be set to the maximum integer value in Java -
Integer.MAX_VALUE.
6.4.3. initSecContext
public byte[] initSecContext(byte inputBuf[], int offset, int len)
throws GSSException
Called by the context initiator to start the context creation
process. This is equivalent to the stream based method except that
the token buffers are handled as byte arrays instead of using stream
objects. This method may return an output token which the
application will need to send to the peer for processing by the
accept call. Typically, the application would do so by calling the
flush() method on an OutputStream that encapsulates the connection
between the two peers. The application can call isEstablished() to
determine if the context establishment phase is complete for this
peer. A return value of "false" from isEstablished() indicates that
more tokens are expected to be supplied to the initSecContext()
method. Note that it is possible that the initSecContext() method
return a token for the peer, and isEstablished() return "true" also.
This indicates that the token needs to be sent to the peer, but the
local end of the context is now fully established.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Upon completion of the context establishment, the available context
options may be queried through the get methods.
Parameters:
inputBuf Token generated by the peer. This parameter is ignored
on the first call.
offset The offset within the inputBuf where the token begins.
len The length of the token within the inputBuf (starting
at the offset).
6.4.3.1. Example Code
// Create a new GSSContext implementation object.
// GSSContext wrapper implements interface GSSContext.
GSSContext context = mgr.createContext(...);
byte []inTok = new byte[0];
try {
do {
byte[] outTok = context.initSecContext(inTok, 0,
inTok.length);
// send the token if present
if (outTok != null)
sendToken(outTok);
// check if we should expect more tokens
if (context.isEstablished())
break;
// another token expected from peer
inTok = readToken();
} while (true);
} catch (GSSException e) {
print("GSSAPI error: " + e.getMessage());
}
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.4. initSecContext
public int initSecContext(InputStream inStream,
OutputStream outStream) throws GSSException
Called by the context initiator to start the context creation
process. This is equivalent to the byte array based method. This
method may write an output token to the outStream, which the
application will need to send to the peer for processing by the
accept call. Typically, the application would do so by calling the
flush() method on an OutputStream that encapsulates the connection
between the two peers. The application can call isEstablished() to
determine if the context establishment phase is complete for this
peer. A return value of "false" from isEstablished indicates that
more tokens are expected to be supplied to the initSecContext method.
Note that it is possible that the initSecContext() method return a
token for the peer, and isEstablished() return "true" also. This
indicates that the token needs to be sent to the peer, but the local
end of the context is now fully established.
The GSS-API authentication tokens contain a definitive start and end.
This method will attempt to read one of these tokens per invocation,
and may block on the stream if only part of the token is available.
Upon completion of the context establishment, the available context
options may be queried through the get methods.
Parameters:
inStream Contains the token generated by the peer. This
parameter is ignored on the first call.
outStream Output stream where the output token will be written.
During the final stage of context establishment, there
may be no bytes written.
6.4.4.1. Example Code
This sample code merely demonstrates the token exchange during the
context establishment phase. It is expected that most Java
applications will use custom implementations of the Input and Output
streams that encapsulate the communication routines. For instance, a
simple read on the application InputStream, when called by the
Context, might cause a token to be read from the peer, and a simple
flush() on the application OutputStream might cause a previously
written token to be transmitted to the peer.
// Create a new GSSContext implementation object.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
// GSSContext wrapper implements interface GSSContext.
GSSContext context = mgr.createContext(...);
// use standard java.io stream objects
ByteArrayOutputStream os = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
ByteArrayInputStream is = null;
try {
do {
context.initSecContext(is, os);
// send token if present
if (os.size() > 0)
sendToken(os);
// check if we should expect more tokens
if (context.isEstablished())
break;
// another token expected from peer
is = recvToken();
} while (true);
} catch (GSSException e) {
print("GSSAPI error: " + e.getMessage());
}
6.4.5. acceptSecContext
public byte[] acceptSecContext(byte inTok[], int offset, int len)
throws GSSException
Called by the context acceptor upon receiving a token from the peer.
This call is equivalent to the stream based method except that the
token buffers are handled as byte arrays instead of using stream
objects.
This method may return an output token which the application will
need to send to the peer for further processing by the init call.
"null" return value indicates that no token needs to be sent to the
peer. The application can call isEstablished() to determine if the
context establishment phase is complete for this peer. A return
value of "false" from isEstablished() indicates that more tokens are
expected to be supplied to this method.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Note that it is possible that acceptSecContext() return a token for
the peer, and isEstablished() return "true" also. This indicates
that the token needs to be sent to the peer, but the local end of the
context is now fully established.
Upon completion of the context establishment, the available context
options may be queried through the get methods.
Parameters:
inTok Token generated by the peer.
offset The offset within the inTok where the token begins.
len The length of the token within the inTok (starting at
the offset).
6.4.5.1. Example Code
// acquire server credentials
GSSCredential server = mgr.createCredential(...);
// create acceptor GSS-API context from the default provider
GSSContext context = mgr.createContext(server, null);
try {
do {
byte [] inTok = readToken();
byte []outTok = context.acceptSecContext(inTok, 0,
inTok.length);
// possibly send token to peer
if (outTok != null)
sendToken(outTok);
// check if local context establishment is complete
if (context.isEstablished())
break;
} while (true);
} catch (GSSException e) {
print("GSS-API error: " + e.getMessage());
}
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.6. acceptSecContext
public void acceptSecContext(InputStream inStream,
OutputStream outStream) throws GSSException
Called by the context acceptor upon receiving a token from the peer.
This call is equivalent to the byte array method. It may write an
output token to the outStream, which the application will need to
send to the peer for processing by its initSecContext method.
Typically, the application would do so by calling the flush() method
on an OutputStream that encapsulates the connection between the two
peers. The application can call isEstablished() to determine if the
context establishment phase is complete for this peer. A return
value of "false" from isEstablished() indicates that more tokens are
expected to be supplied to this method.
Note that it is possible that acceptSecContext() return a token for
the peer, and isEstablished() return "true" also. This indicates
that the token needs to be sent to the peer, but the local end of the
context is now fully established.
The GSS-API authentication tokens contain a definitive start and end.
This method will attempt to read one of these tokens per invocation,
and may block on the stream if only part of the token is available.
Upon completion of the context establishment, the available context
options may be queried through the get methods.
Parameters:
inStream Contains the token generated by the peer.
outStream Output stream where the output token will be written.
During the final stage of context establishment, there
may be no bytes written.
6.4.6.1. Example Code
This sample code merely demonstrates the token exchange during the
context establishment phase. It is expected that most Java
applications will use custom implementations of the Input and Output
streams that encapsulate the communication routines. For instance, a
simple read on the application InputStream, when called by the
Context, might cause a token to be read from the peer, and a simple
flush() on the application OutputStream might cause a previously
written token to be transmitted to the peer.
// acquire server credentials
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
GSSCredential server = mgr.createCredential(...);
// create acceptor GSS-API context from the default provider
GSSContext context = mgr.createContext(server, null);
// use standard java.io stream objects
ByteArrayOutputStream os = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
ByteArrayInputStream is = null;
try {
do {
is = recvToken();
context.acceptSecContext(is, os);
// possibly send token to peer
if (os.size() > 0)
sendToken(os);
// check if local context establishment is complete
if (context.isEstablished())
break;
} while (true);
} catch (GSSException e) {
print("GSS-API error: " + e.getMessage());
}
6.4.7. isEstablished
public boolean isEstablished()
Used during context establishment to determine the state of the
context. Returns "true" if this is a fully established context on
the caller's side and no more tokens are needed from the peer.
Should be called after a call to initSecContext() or
acceptSecContext() when no GSSException is thrown.
6.4.8. dispose
public void dispose() throws GSSException
Releases any system resources and cryptographic information stored in
the context object. This will invalidate the context.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.9. getWrapSizeLimit
public int getWrapSizeLimit(int qop, boolean confReq,
int maxTokenSize) throws GSSException
Returns the maximum message size that, if presented to the wrap
method with the same confReq and qop parameters, will result in an
output token containing no more than the maxTokenSize bytes.
This call is intended for use by applications that communicate over
protocols that impose a maximum message size. It enables the
application to fragment messages prior to applying protection.
GSS-API implementations are recommended but not required to detect
invalid QOP values when getWrapSizeLimit is called. This routine
guarantees only a maximum message size, not the availability of
specific QOP values for message protection.
Successful completion of this call does not guarantee that wrap will
be able to protect a message of the computed length, since this
ability may depend on the availability of system resources at the
time that wrap is called. However, if the implementation itself
imposes an upper limit on the length of messages that may be
processed by wrap, the implementation should not return a value that
is greater than this length.
Parameters:
qop Indicates the level of protection wrap will be asked
to provide.
confReq Indicates if wrap will be asked to provide privacy
service.
maxTokenSize
The desired maximum size of the token emitted by wrap.
6.4.10. wrap
public byte[] wrap(byte inBuf[], int offset, int len,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Applies per-message security services over the established security
context. The method will return a token with a cryptographic MIC and
may optionally encrypt the specified inBuf. This method is
equivalent in functionality to its stream counterpart. The returned
byte array will contain both the MIC and the message.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
The MessageProp object is instantiated by the application and used to
specify a QOP value which selects cryptographic algorithms, and a
privacy service to optionally encrypt the message. The underlying
mechanism that is used in the call may not be able to provide the
privacy service. It sets the actual privacy service that it does
provide in this MessageProp object which the caller should then query
upon return. If the mechanism is not able to provide the requested
QOP, it throws a GSSException with the BAD_QOP code.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by wrap to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
the wrapping of zero-length messages.
The application will be responsible for sending the token to the
peer.
Parameters:
inBuf Application data to be protected.
offset The offset within the inBuf where the data begins.
len The length of the data within the inBuf (starting at
the offset).
msgProp Instance of MessageProp that is used by the
application to set the desired QOP and privacy state.
Set the desired QOP to 0 to request the default QOP.
Upon return from this method, this object will contain
the the actual privacy state that was applied to the
message by the underlying mechanism.
6.4.11. wrap
public void wrap(InputStream inStream, OutputStream outStream,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Allows to apply per-message security services over the established
security context. The method will produce a token with a
cryptographic MIC and may optionally encrypt the message in inStream.
The outStream will contain both the MIC and the message.
The MessageProp object is instantiated by the application and used to
specify a QOP value which selects cryptographic algorithms, and a
privacy service to optionally encrypt the message. The underlying
mechanism that is used in the call may not be able to provide the
privacy service. It sets the actual privacy service that it does
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
provide in this MessageProp object which the caller should then query
upon return. If the mechanism is not able to provide the requested
QOP, it throws a GSSException with the BAD_QOP code.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by wrap to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
the wrapping of zero-length messages.
The application will be responsible for sending the token to the
peer.
Parameters:
inStream Input stream containing the application data to be
protected.
outStream The output stream to write the protected message to.
The application is responsible for sending this to the
other peer for processing in its unwrap method.
msgProp Instance of MessageProp that is used by the
application to set the desired QOP and privacy state.
Set the desired QOP to 0 to request the default QOP.
Upon return from this method, this object will contain
the the actual privacy state that was applied to the
message by the underlying mechanism.
6.4.12. unwrap
public byte [] unwrap(byte[] inBuf, int offset, int len,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Used by the peer application to process tokens generated with the
wrap call. This call is equal in functionality to its stream
counterpart. The method will return the message supplied in the peer
application to the wrap call, verifying the embedded MIC.
The MessageProp object is instantiated by the application and is used
by the underlying mechanism to return information to the caller such
as the QOP, whether confidentiality was applied to the message, and
other supplementary message state information.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by wrap to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
the wrapping and unwrapping of zero-length messages.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
inBuf GSS-API wrap token received from peer.
offset The offset within the inBuf where the token begins.
len The length of the token within the inBuf (starting at
the offset).
msgProp Upon return from the method, this object will contain
the applied QOP, the privacy state of the message, and
supplementary information described in 4.12.3 stating
whether the token was a duplicate, old, out of
sequence or arriving after a gap.
6.4.13. unwrap
public void unwrap(InputStream inStream, OutputStream outStream,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Used by the peer application to process tokens generated with the
wrap call. This call is equal in functionality to its byte array
counterpart. It will produce the message supplied in the peer
application to the wrap call, verifying the embedded MIC.
The MessageProp object is instantiated by the application and is used
by the underlying mechanism to return information to the caller such
as the QOP, whether confidentiality was applied to the message, and
other supplementary message state information.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by wrap to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
the wrapping and unwrapping of zero-length messages.
Parameters:
inStream Input stream containing the GSS-API wrap token
received from the peer.
outStream The output stream to write the application message to.
msgProp Upon return from the method, this object will contain
the applied QOP, the privacy state of the message, and
supplementary information described in 4.12.3 stating
whether the token was a duplicate, old, out of
sequence or arriving after a gap.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.14. getMIC
public byte[] getMIC(byte []inMsg, int offset, int len,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Returns a token containing a cryptographic MIC for the supplied
message, for transfer to the peer application. Unlike wrap, which
encapsulates the user message in the returned token, only the message
MIC is returned in the output token. This method is identical in
functionality to its stream counterpart.
Note that privacy can only be applied through the wrap call.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by getMIC to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
derivation of MICs from zero-length messages.
Parameters:
inMsg Message to generate MIC over.
offset The offset within the inMsg where the token begins.
len The length of the token within the inMsg (starting at
the offset).
msgProp Instance of MessageProp that is used by the
application to set the desired QOP. Set the desired
QOP to 0 in msgProp to request the default QOP.
Alternatively pass in "null" for msgProp to request
default QOP.
6.4.15. getMIC
public void getMIC(InputStream inStream, OutputStream outStream,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Produces a token containing a cryptographic MIC for the supplied
message, for transfer to the peer application. Unlike wrap, which
encapsulates the user message in the returned token, only the message
MIC is produced in the output token. This method is identical in
functionality to its byte array counterpart.
Note that privacy can only be applied through the wrap call.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by getMIC to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
derivation of MICs from zero-length messages.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
inStream inStream Input stream containing the message to
generate MIC over.
outStream outStream Output stream to write the GSS-API output
token to.
msgProp Instance of MessageProp that is used by the
application to set the desired QOP. Set the desired
QOP to 0 in msgProp to request the default QOP.
Alternatively pass in "null" for msgProp to request
default QOP.
6.4.16. verifyMIC
public void verifyMIC(byte []inTok, int tokOffset, int tokLen,
byte[] inMsg, int msgOffset, int msgLen,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Verifies the cryptographic MIC, contained in the token parameter,
over the supplied message. This method is equivalent in
functionality to its stream counterpart.
The MessageProp object is instantiated by the application and is used
by the underlying mechanism to return information to the caller such
as the QOP indicating the strength of protection that was applied to
the message and other supplementary message state information.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by getMIC to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
the calculation and verification of MICs over zero-length messages.
Parameters:
inTok Token generated by peer's getMIC method.
tokOffset The offset within the inTok where the token begins.
tokLen The length of the token within the inTok (starting at
the offset).
inMsg Application message to verify the cryptographic MIC
over.
msgOffset The offset within the inMsg where the message begins.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
msgLen The length of the message within the inMsg (starting
at the offset).
msgProp Upon return from the method, this object will contain
the applied QOP and supplementary information
described in 4.12.3 stating whether the token was a
duplicate, old, out of sequence or arriving after a
gap. The confidentiality state will be set to
"false".
6.4.17. verifyMIC
public void verifyMIC(InputStream tokStream, InputStream msgStream,
MessageProp msgProp) throws GSSException
Verifies the cryptographic MIC, contained in the token parameter,
over the supplied message. This method is equivalent in
functionality to its byte array counterpart.
The MessageProp object is instantiated by the application and is used
by the underlying mechanism to return information to the caller such
as the QOP indicating the strength of protection that was applied to
the message and other supplementary message state information.
Since some application-level protocols may wish to use tokens emitted
by getMIC to provide "secure framing", implementations should support
the calculation and verification of MICs over zero-length messages.
Parameters:
tokStream Input stream containing the token generated by peer's
getMIC method.
msgStream Input stream containing the application message to
verify the cryptographic MIC over.
msgProp Upon return from the method, this object will contain
the applied QOP and supplementary information
described in 4.12.3 stating whether the token was a
duplicate, old, out of sequence or arriving after a
gap. The confidentiality state will be set to
"false".
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.18. export
public byte [] export() throws GSSException
Provided to support the sharing of work between multiple processes.
This routine will typically be used by the context-acceptor, in an
application where a single process receives incoming connection
requests and accepts security contexts over them, then passes the
established context to one or more other processes for message
exchange.
This method deactivates the security context and creates an
interprocess token which, when passed to the byte array constructor
of the GSSContext interface in another process, will re-activate the
context in the second process. Only a single instantiation of a
given context may be active at any one time; a subsequent attempt by
a context exporter to access the exported security context will fail.
The implementation may constrain the set of processes by which the
interprocess token may be imported, either as a function of local
security policy, or as a result of implementation decisions. For
example, some implementations may constrain contexts to be passed
only between processes that run under the same account, or which are
part of the same process group.
The interprocess token may contain security-sensitive information
(for example cryptographic keys). While mechanisms are encouraged to
either avoid placing such sensitive information within interprocess
tokens, or to encrypt the token before returning it to the
application, in a typical GSS-API implementation this may not be
possible. Thus the application must take care to protect the
interprocess token, and ensure that any process to which the token is
transferred is trustworthy.
6.4.19. requestMutualAuth
public void requestMutualAuth(boolean state) throws GSSException
Sets the request state of the mutual authentication flag for the
context. This method is only valid before the context creation
process begins and only for the initiator.
Parameters:
state Boolean representing if mutual authentication should
be requested during context establishment.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.20. requestReplayDet
public void requestReplayDet(boolean state) throws GSSException
Sets the request state of the replay detection service for the
context. This method is only valid before the context creation
process begins and only for the initiator.
Parameters:
state Boolean representing if replay detection is desired
over the established context.
6.4.21. requestSequenceDet
public void requestSequenceDet(boolean state) throws GSSException
Sets the request state for the sequence checking service of the
context. This method is only valid before the context creation
process begins and only for the initiator.
Parameters:
state Boolean representing if sequence detection is desired
over the established context.
6.4.22. requestCredDeleg
public void requestCredDeleg(boolean state) throws GSSException
Sets the request state for the credential delegation flag for the
context. This method is only valid before the context creation
process begins and only for the initiator.
Parameters:
state Boolean representing if credential delegation is
desired.
6.4.23. requestAnonymity
public void requestAnonymity(boolean state) throws GSSException
Requests anonymous support over the context. This method is only
valid before the context creation process begins and only for the
initiator.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
state Boolean representing if anonymity support is
requested.
6.4.24. requestConf
public void requestConf(boolean state) throws GSSException
Requests that confidentiality service be available over the context.
This method is only valid before the context creation process begins
and only for the initiator.
Parameters:
state Boolean indicating if confidentiality services are to
be requested for the context.
6.4.25. requestInteg
public void requestInteg(boolean state) throws GSSException
Requests that integrity services be available over the context. This
method is only valid before the context creation process begins and
only for the initiator.
Parameters:
state Boolean indicating if integrity services are to be
requested for the context.
6.4.26. requestLifetime
public void requestLifetime(int lifetime) throws GSSException
Sets the desired lifetime for the context in seconds. This method is
only valid before the context creation process begins and only for
the initiator. Use GSSContext.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME and
GSSContext.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request indefinite or default context
lifetime.
Parameters:
lifetime The desired context lifetime in seconds.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.27. setChannelBinding
public void setChannelBinding(ChannelBinding cb) throws GSSException
Sets the channel bindings to be used during context establishment.
This method is only valid before the context creation process begins.
Parameters:
cb Channel bindings to be used.
6.4.28. getCredDelegState
public boolean getCredDelegState()
Returns the state of the delegated credentials for the context. When
issued before context establishment is completed or when the
isProtReady method returns "false", it returns the desired state,
otherwise it will indicate the actual state over the established
context.
6.4.29. getMutualAuthState
public boolean getMutualAuthState()
Returns the state of the mutual authentication option for the
context. When issued before context establishment completes or when
the isProtReady method returns "false", it returns the desired state,
otherwise it will indicate the actual state over the established
context.
6.4.30. getReplayDetState
public boolean getReplayDetState()
Returns the state of the replay detection option for the context.
When issued before context establishment completes or when the
isProtReady method returns "false", it returns the desired state,
otherwise it will indicate the actual state over the established
context.
6.4.31. getSequenceDetState
public boolean getSequenceDetState()
Returns the state of the sequence detection option for the context.
When issued before context establishment completes or when the
isProtReady method returns "false", it returns the desired state,
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
otherwise it will indicate the actual state over the established
context.
6.4.32. getAnonymityState
public boolean getAnonymityState()
Returns "true" if this is an anonymous context. When issued before
context establishment completes or when the isProtReady method
returns "false", it returns the desired state, otherwise it will
indicate the actual state over the established context.
6.4.33. isTransferable
public boolean isTransferable() throws GSSException
Returns "true" if the context is transferable to other processes
through the use of the export method. This call is only valid on
fully established contexts.
6.4.34. isProtReady
public boolean isProtReady()
Returns "true" if the per message operations can be applied over the
context. Some mechanisms may allow the usage of per-message
operations before the context is fully established. This will also
indicate that the get methods will return actual context state
characteristics instead of the desired ones.
6.4.35. getConfState
public boolean getConfState()
Returns the confidentiality service state over the context. When
issued before context establishment completes or when the isProtReady
method returns "false", it returns the desired state, otherwise it
will indicate the actual state over the established context.
6.4.36. getIntegState
public boolean getIntegState()
Returns the integrity service state over the context. When issued
before context establishment completes or when the isProtReady method
returns "false", it returns the desired state, otherwise it will
indicate the actual state over the established context.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.4.37. getLifetime
public int getLifetime()
Returns the context lifetime in seconds. When issued before context
establishment completes or when the isProtReady method returns
"false", it returns the desired lifetime, otherwise it will indicate
the remaining lifetime for the context.
6.4.38. getSrcName
public GSSName getSrcName() throws GSSException
Returns the name of the context initiator. This call is valid only
after the context is fully established or the isProtReady method
returns "true". It is guaranteed to return an MN.
6.4.39. getTargName
public GSSName getTargName() throws GSSException
Returns the name of the context target (acceptor). This call is
valid only after the context is fully established or the isProtReady
method returns "true". It is guaranteed to return an MN.
6.4.40. getMech
public Oid getMech() throws GSSException
Returns the mechanism oid for this context. This method may be called
before the context is fully established, but the mechanism returned
may change on successive calls in negotiated mechanism case.
6.4.41. getDelegCred
public GSSCredential getDelegCred() throws GSSException
Returns the delegated credential object on the acceptor's side. To
check for availability of delegated credentials call
getDelegCredState. This call is only valid on fully established
contexts.
6.4.42. isInitiator
public boolean isInitiator() throws GSSException
Returns "true" if this is the initiator of the context. This call is
only valid after the context creation process has started.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.5. public class MessageProp
This is a utility class used within the per-message GSSContext
methods to convey per-message properties.
When used with the GSSContext interface's wrap and getMIC methods, an
instance of this class is used to indicate the desired QOP and to
request if confidentiality services are to be applied to caller
supplied data (wrap only). To request default QOP, the value of 0
should be used for QOP.
When used with the unwrap and verifyMIC methods of the GSSContext
interface, an instance of this class will be used to indicate the
applied QOP and confidentiality services over the supplied message.
In the case of verifyMIC, the confidentiality state will always be
"false". Upon return from these methods, this object will also
contain any supplementary status values applicable to the processed
token. The supplementary status values can indicate old tokens, out
of sequence tokens, gap tokens or duplicate tokens.
6.5.1. Constructors
public MessageProp(boolean privState)
Constructor which sets QOP to 0 indicating that the default QOP is
requested.
Parameters:
privState The desired privacy state. "true" for privacy and
"false" for integrity only.
public MessageProp(int qop, boolean privState)
Constructor which sets the values for the qop and privacy state.
Parameters:
qop The desired QOP. Use 0 to request a default QOP.
privState The desired privacy state. "true" for privacy and
"false" for integrity only.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.5.8. isDuplicateToken
public boolean isDuplicateToken()
Returns "true" if this is a duplicate of an earlier token.
6.5.9. isOldToken
public boolean isOldToken()
Returns "true" if the token's validity period has expired.
6.5.10. isUnseqToken
public boolean isUnseqToken()
Returns "true" if a later token has already been processed.
6.5.11. isGapToken
public boolean isGapToken()
Returns "true" if an expected per-message token was not received.
6.5.12. setSupplementaryStates
public void setSupplementaryStates(boolean duplicate,
boolean old, boolean unseq, boolean gap,
int minorStatus, String minorString)
This method sets the state for the supplementary information flags
and the minor status in MessageProp. It is not used by the
application but by the GSS implementation to return this information
to the caller of a per-message context method.
Parameters:
duplicate true if the token was a duplicate of an earlier token,
false otherwise
old true if the token's validity period has expired, false
otherwise
unseq true if a later token has already been processed,
false otherwise
gap true if one or more predecessor tokens have not yet
been successfully processed, false otherwise
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
minorStatus the integer minor status code that the underlying
mechanism wants to set
minorString the textual representation of the minorStatus
value
6.6. public class ChannelBinding
The GSS-API accommodates the concept of caller-provided channel
binding information. Channel bindings are used to strengthen the
quality with which peer entity authentication is provided during
context establishment. They enable the GSS-API callers to bind the
establishment of the security context to relevant characteristics
like addresses or to application specific data.
The caller initiating the security context must determine the
appropriate channel binding values to set in the GSSContext object.
The acceptor must provide an identical binding in order to validate
that received tokens possess correct channel-related characteristics.
Use of channel bindings is optional in GSS-API. Since channel-
binding information may be transmitted in context establishment
tokens, applications should therefore not use confidential data as
channel-binding components.
6.6.1. Constructors
public ChannelBinding(InetAddress initAddr, InetAddress acceptAddr,
byte[] appData)
Create a ChannelBinding object with user supplied address information
and data. "null" values can be used for any fields which the
application does not want to specify.
Parameters:
initAddr The address of the context initiator. "null" value
can be supplied to indicate that the application does
not want to set this value.
acceptAddrThe address of the context acceptor. "null" value can
be supplied to indicate that the application does not
want to set this value.
appData Application supplied data to be used as part of the
channel bindings. "null" value can be supplied to
indicate that the application does not want to set
this value.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
public ChannelBinding(byte[] appData)
Creates a ChannelBinding object without any addressing information.
Parameters:
appData Application supplied data to be used as part of the
channel bindings.
6.6.2. getInitiatorAddress
public InetAddress getInitiatorAddress()
Returns the initiator's address for this channel binding. "null" is
returned if the address has not been set.
6.6.3. getAcceptorAddress
public InetAddress getAcceptorAddress()
Returns the acceptor's address for this channel binding. "null" is
returned if the address has not been set.
6.6.4. getApplicationData
public byte[] getApplicationData()
Returns application data being used as part of the ChannelBinding.
"null" is returned if no application data has been specified for the
channel binding.
6.6.5. equals
public boolean equals(Object obj)
Returns "true" if two channel bindings match. (Note that the Java
language specification requires that two objects that are equal
according to the equals(Object) method must return the same integer
result when the hashCode() method is called on them.)
Parameters:
obj Another channel binding to compare with.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.7. public class Oid
This class represents Universal Object Identifiers (Oids) and their
associated operations.
Oids are hierarchically globally-interpretable identifiers used
within the GSS-API framework to identify mechanisms and name formats.
The structure and encoding of Oids is defined in ISOIEC-8824 and
ISOIEC-8825. For example the Oid representation of Kerberos V5
mechanism is "1.2.840.113554.1.2.2"
The GSSName name class contains public static Oid objects
representing the standard name types defined in GSS-API.
6.7.1. Constructors
public Oid(String strOid) throws GSSException
Creates an Oid object from a string representation of its integer
components (e.g. "1.2.840.113554.1.2.2").
Parameters:
strOid The string representation for the oid.
public Oid(InputStream derOid) throws GSSException
Creates an Oid object from its DER encoding. This refers to the full
encoding including tag and length. The structure and encoding of
Oids is defined in ISOIEC-8824 and ISOIEC-8825. This method is
identical in functionality to its byte array counterpart.
Parameters:
derOid Stream containing the DER encoded oid.
public Oid(byte[] DEROid) throws GSSException
Creates an Oid object from its DER encoding. This refers to the full
encoding including tag and length. The structure and encoding of
Oids is defined in ISOIEC-8824 and ISOIEC-8825. This method is
identical in functionality to its byte array counterpart.
Parameters:
derOid Byte array storing a DER encoded oid.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20006.7.2. toString
public String toString()
Returns a string representation of the oid's integer components in
dot separated notation (e.g. "1.2.840.113554.1.2.2").
6.7.3. equals
public boolean equals(Object Obj)
Returns "true" if the two Oid objects represent the same oid value.
(Note that the Java language specification requires that two objects
that are equal according to the equals(Object) method must return the
same integer result when the hashCode() method is called on them.)
Parameters:
obj Another Oid object to compare with.
6.7.4. getDER
public byte[] getDER()
Returns the full ASN.1 DER encoding for this oid object, which
includes the tag and length.
6.7.5. containedIn
public boolean containedIn(Oid[] oids)
A utility method to test if an Oid object is contained within the
supplied Oid object array.
Parameters:
oids An array of oids to search.
6.8. public class GSSException extends Exception
This exception is thrown whenever a fatal GSS-API error occurs
including mechanism specific errors. It may contain both, the major
and minor, GSS-API status codes. The mechanism implementers are
responsible for setting appropriate minor status codes when throwing
this exception. Aside from delivering the numeric error code(s) to
the caller, this class performs the mapping from their numeric values
to textual representations. All Java GSS-API methods are declared
throwing this exception.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
public static final int DUPLICATE_TOKEN
The token was a duplicate of an earlier token. This is a fatal error
code that may occur during context establishment. It is not used to
indicate supplementary status values. The MessageProp object is used
for that purpose.
public static final int OLD_TOKEN
The token's validity period has expired. This is a fatal error code
that may occur during context establishment. It is not used to
indicate supplementary status values. The MessageProp object is used
for that purpose.
public static final int UNSEQ_TOKEN
A later token has already been processed. This is a fatal error code
that may occur during context establishment. It is not used to
indicate supplementary status values. The MessageProp object is used
for that purpose.
public static final int GAP_TOKEN
An expected per-message token was not received. This is a fatal
error code that may occur during context establishment. It is not
used to indicate supplementary status values. The MessageProp object
is used for that purpose.
6.8.2. Constructors
public GSSException(int majorCode)
Creates a GSSException object with a specified major code.
Parameters:
majorCode The GSS error code causing this exception to be
thrown.
public GSSException(int majorCode, int minorCode, String minorString)
Creates a GSSException object with the specified major code, minor
code, and minor code textual explanation. This constructor is to be
used when the exception is originating from the security mechanism.
It allows to specify the GSS code and the mechanism code.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
majorCode The GSS error code causing this exception to be
thrown.
minorCode The mechanism error code causing this exception
to be thrown.
minorString The textual explanation of the mechanism error
code.
6.8.3. getMajor
public int getMajor()
Returns the major code representing the GSS error code that caused
this exception to be thrown.
6.8.4. getMinor
public int getMinor()
Returns the mechanism error code that caused this exception. The
minor code is set by the underlying mechanism. Value of 0 indicates
that mechanism error code is not set.
6.8.5. getMajorString
public String getMajorString()
Returns a string explaining the GSS major error code causing this
exception to be thrown.
6.8.6. getMinorString
public String getMinorString()
Returns a string explaining the mechanism specific error code. null
will be returned when no mechanism error code has been set.
6.8.7. setMinor
public void setMinor(int minorCode, String message)
Used internally by the GSS-API implementation and the underlying
mechanisms to set the minor code and its textual representation.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
Parameters:
minorCode The mechanism specific error code.
message A textual explanation of the mechanism error code.
6.8.8. toString
public String toString()
Returns a textual representation of both the major and minor status
codes.
6.8.9. getMessage
public String getMessage()
Returns a detailed message of this exception. Overrides
Throwable.getMessage. It is customary in Java to use this method to
obtain exception information.
7. Sample Applications7.1. Simple GSS Context Initiator
import org.ietf.jgss.*;
/**
* This is a partial sketch for a simple client program that acts
* as a GSS context initiator. It illustrates how to use the Java
* bindings for the GSS-API specified in
* Generic Security Service API Version 2 : Java bindings
*
*
* This code sketch assumes the existence of a GSS-API
* implementation that supports the mechanism that it will need and
* is present as a library package (org.ietf.jgss) either as part of
* the standard JRE or in the CLASSPATH the application specifies.
*/
public class SimpleClient {
private String serviceName; // name of peer (ie. server)
private GSSCredential clientCred = null;
private GSSContext context = null;
private Oid mech; // underlying mechanism to use
private GSSManager mgr = GSSManager.getInstance();
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 2000
} // end of inner class ServerThread
...
...
} // end of class SimpleServer
8. Security Considerations
The Java language security model allows platform providers to have
policy based fine-grained access control over any resource that an
application wants. When using a Java security manager (such as, but
not limited to, the case of applets running in browsers) the
application code is in a sandbox by default.
Administrators of the platform JRE determine what permissions, if
any, are to be given to source from different codebases. Thus the
administrator has to be aware of any special requirements that the
GSS provider might have for system resources. For instance, a
Kerberos provider might wish to make a network connection to the KDC
to obtain initial credentials. This would not be allowed under the
sandbox unless the administrator had granted permissions for this.
Also note that this granting and checking of permissions happens
transparently to the application and is outside the scope of this
document.
The Java language allows administrators to pre-configure a list of
security service providers in the <JRE>/lib/security/java.security
file. At runtime, the system approaches these providers in order of
preference when looking for security related services. Applications
have a means to modify this list through methods in the "Security"
class in the "java.security" package. However, since these
modifications would be visible in the entire JVM and thus affect all
code executing in it, this operation is not available in the sandbox
and requires special permissions to perform. Thus when a GSS
application has special needs that are met by a particular security
provider, it has two choices:
1) To install the provider on a JVM wide basis using the
java.security.Security class and then depend on the system to
find the right provider automatically when the need arises.
(This would require the application to be granted a
"insertProvider SecurityPermission".)
2) To pass an instance of the provider to the local instance of
GSSManager so that only factory calls going through that
GSSManager use the desired provider. (This would not require
any permissions.)
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 20009. Acknowledgments
This proposed API leverages earlier work performed by the IETF's CAT
WG as outlined in both RFC 2743 and RFC 2744. Many conceptual
definitions, implementation directions, and explanations have been
included from these documents.
We would like to thank Mike Eisler, Lin Ling, Ram Marti, Michael
Saltz and other members of Sun's development team for their helpful
input, comments and suggestions.
We would also like to thank Joe Salowey, and Michael Smith for many
insightful ideas and suggestions that have contributed to this
document.
10. Bibliography
[GSSAPIv2] Linn, J., "Generic Security Service Application
Program Interface, Version 2", RFC 2078, January
1997.
[GSSAPIv2-UPDATE] Linn, J., "Generic Security Service Application
Program Interface, Version 2, Update 1", RFC 2743,
January 2000.
[GSSAPI-Cbind] Wray, J., "Generic Security Service API Version 2 :
C-bindings", RFC 2744, January 2000.
[KERBV5] Linn, J., "The Kerberos Version 5 GSS-API
Mechanism", RFC 1964, June 1996.
[SPKM] Adams, C., "The Simple Public-Key GSS-API
Mechanism", RFC 2025, October 1996.
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RFC 2853 GSS-API Java Bindings June 200012. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
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